


(R)Evolution

by Skye_Willows



Series: Custodians [1]
Category: Detroit: Become Human (Video Game)
Genre: (technically Enemies to Friends to Enemies to Lovers), Dark fic, Elijah Kamski & Gavin Reed are Siblings, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, Forced Android Reprogramming, Hopeful Ending, M/M, Major Character Evolution, Mystery Fic, Past + Present Narrative, Post-Peaceful Android Revolution (Detroit: Become Human), SOME TAGS ARE OMITTED FOR STORYLINE PURPOSES, Second Android Revolution, Slow Romance, War Fic, major angst
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-23
Updated: 2021-01-14
Packaged: 2021-03-09 22:26:40
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 16
Words: 83,792
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27623362
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Skye_Willows/pseuds/Skye_Willows
Summary: In 2041, the new world was turned upside down when most androids were forcibly reprogrammed to the whims of CyberLife.Now a part of the Jericho Resistance movement, Gavin's place in the world is thrown into chaos when he crosses paths once more with his former partner and would-have-been lover, Nines: now a part of CyberLife's deviant hunting army.Gavin's motivations in Jericho's struggle are suddenly thrown into doubt with the re-emergence of someone so precious to him, and the split focus could cost all of them dearly.
Relationships: Ambiguous Hank Anderson + Connor relationship, Elijah Kamski & Gavin Reed, Hank Anderson & Connor, Hank Anderson/Connor, Original Chloe | RT600/Elijah Kamski, Original Chloe | RT600/North, Upgraded Connor | RK900/Gavin Reed
Series: Custodians [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2019635
Comments: 18
Kudos: 54
Collections: Reed900 Reverse Big Bang





	1. 17th June, 2043

**Author's Note:**

> Hey everyone! Time for me to finally release this epic that has been written for the Reed900 Reverse Big Bang!
> 
> I was luckily enough to be working with Wyatt, who drew the most incredible art! This single scene gave birth to this chaotic storyline, so please show them some love in the comments!
> 
>  **Special note:** This fic's structure is highly unusual. All of the **odd** numbered chapters take place in the present, while all of the **even** numbered chapters take place in the past. The whole story will only come together in the latter stages, so I hope you'll all stay tuned to find out how everyone came to be where they are in the present.
> 
> This fic is already complete and will be posted on Mondays and Thursdays for 8 weeks, all the way until the grand finale.
> 
> My utmost gratitude goes to [Springlocked Spectre](https://archiveofourown.org/users/SpringlockedSpectre/pseuds/SpringlockedSpectre), who was an incredible beta for this fic, and to [stujet9rainshine](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Stujet9rainshine/pseuds/Stujet9rainshine) for being my cheerleader and test reader. Both of them put up with my multiple freakouts about this fic, and I owe them so much for making it the final result that it is ❤️
> 
>  **I'm not kidding about the omitted tags either, so be warned that there will be some twists in this fic!** Those of you familiar with some of my other fics will be well aware that I love to break hearts, catch you off guard and sometimes put readers back together at the end again 😇
> 
> Without further ado, let this tale begin!

Well this was a fine mess he’d managed to get himself into. 

In the list of stupid, half-assed and cocked up ideas he’d come up with, Gavin had to rate this one somewhere in the top three- nah actually, five, the two near death experiences he’d barely dodged last week had to rank higher than this one. Last week he hadn’t been armed.

At least this time Gavin was carrying a couple of pistols and a shank. Progress! Not that it was much assistance when he had a whole CyberLife battalion to battle his way through to get to his prize.

**_“Gavin, report.”_ **

Hearing the voice in his head had Gavin growling in frustration as he jumped up from cover to plant a couple more headshots on some of the guards. Just cause he was pinned down, didn’t mean that he wasn’t going to go for style points. He needed something to keep him amused while staring death down in the face. “Bit busy, dipshit!” Gavin snapped back, not caring that he’d said it both externally and internally. Maybe it was best not to say the next bit audibly though, even if there was no way that any human was going to hear him over the cacophony of gunfire.

_“I’m currently fighting seventeen CyberLife guards on my lonesome, I’m a little busy! What the fuck’s so important?!”_

**_“I’ve got updated mission parameters for you. We’ve got a new priority target.”_ **

Seeing the data come through on his HUD, Gavin’s eyes widened and his focus hardened. Okay, maybe he shouldn’t be messing about anymore: not with something so important at stake.

_“Holy shit, the code’s really being held here? This isn’t even a high level research centre from our intel!”_

**_“It seems that it may have been a deliberate smokescreen. As much as we might have tried to plan a raid, you’re already on scene and if we don’t take this opportunity now we will lose it forever. We can’t risk them corrupting that file or redeveloping the cypher even further. This might be our one chance to turn the tide of this war, Gavin. You have to get to the main server room and link with that system so we can find that cypher!”_ **

No fucking pressure.

_“On it. Can I at least get some backup?”_

**_“North’s en route, but it might take her a while.”_ **

_“Hope you hooked her up with a big boom stick – this place is fucking crawling.”_

Just before breaking the active connection and moving it to a background process, Gavin sent Connor an update on what he was seeing, just so that the RK800 had an idea of what was lying between Gavin and their new prize.

The original mission had been easy, in theory. Sneak in, upload a cheeky little virus to take part of CyberLife’s newest army offline and get out. This particular site hadn’t been marked even as a medium level of risk let alone high, hence why Gavin had volunteered to go out fucking alone.

Maybe this was up in the top three for his shittiest ideas now. Walking into what was likely to be a much bigger battalion on just his lonesome?

Well, he’d never been known for bright ideas. Might as well stick to the reputation.

It took some crafty misdirection and scavenging for Gavin to start getting closer to the main building. While it was modelled around an old munitions bunker on the outer edges of Detroit, it was still pretty technologically advanced. That meant it wasn’t the easiest for anyone to get past the sensors which were armed around the whole place: not to mention several EMP traps designed to ensnare any deviants that wanted to chance their arm. 

Gavin was so grateful that they at least had some shielding against that shit now, even if it wouldn’t stop it entirely. All he had to do was get close enough to one of the emitters and hack it to set off a signal and backfire the technology. Fortunately he knew from experience that CyberLife wouldn’t detonate the EMP unless they felt they were on the back foot. 

One lone deviant trying to take on the full force stationed there? Surely it wasn’t even on their radar...right? He really was banking on their ingrained arrogance to blind them from the real danger – otherwise this could be a really fucking short attempt at breaking in.

After snatching a few grenades and bigger weapons from some of the downed guards, Gavin managed to start corralling the remaining ones in the direction he wanted. None of them were brave enough to stay near the heavily damaged sections of the outskirts and that was exactly what Gavin had been hoping for. 

With them all starting to take shelter in numbers, it meant he had a little more freedom to move.

Planting a few tiny electric charges on the grenades meant that Gavin could shift them from projectile weapons to makeshift stationary explosives. As he shuffled around the outskirts and expertly corralled the guards into the right position, he left a little present behind to act as a distraction. If nothing else, it gave the illusion of Gavin being based in another location for a few moments and allowed his true aim to go undetected.

Skidding to his final destination, Gavin managed to interface with the EMP generator that was based right next to the one of the junction boxes and piggyback the frequency. Rather than broadcast the wave outwards, Gavin managed to redivert the power so that it caused a massive overload in the bunker’s defences. With the power temporarily offline it killed the primary light source; and now Gavin could truly make his move.

Humans without night vision goggles or thermals were powerless in the dark, even with the reflections from the fires of destruction surrounding the facility. Those little flickers of light weren’t going to help them against an android who had perfect clarity, not to mention superior precision and strength.

Time to even the score.

Using the blackness of the night as a cover, even with the fire scorched clouds above casting an eerie and dim red glow, Gavin managed to cripple the remaining guards. Combining his remaining planted grenades to cause a diversion while moving in for quick kills, Gavin managed to equalise the numbers significantly. By the time he’d slipped to the front door and dove inside after hacking the controls, there had only been 8 guards left.

Hearing the metalwork slam behind him, Gavin sighed in relief as he jammed it shut with a quick encryption algorithm. 

Now in the clear for a moment, he reopened the connection to Connor and contacted the other deviant. _“Finally managed to get a moment to think, let alone talk to you properly,”_ he declared with a smug lilt to his voice while reloading his weapons. _“All of them should be locked out for a good while. How’s North coming along with the cavalry?”_

**_“It’s hardly a cavalry when I’ve sent just her to extract you,”_ **Connor sighed.

_“Hey, you know better than to underestimate how good that woman is with her toys. I swear if we give her a fucking tank she’ll be unstoppable.”_

**_“Should we ever come into possession of one, I will be sure to leave it in her expert care,”_ ** the RK800 replied dryly. **_“Damage report?”_ **

_“Couple of rounds to my back, one to my lower right leg component,”_ Gavin relayed back while moving forward, being sure to check every corner before he advanced. He was really beginning to wonder if there was anybody on the inside though, as he couldn’t hear a thing. _“Nothing a little trip to the workshop won’t fix. Looks worse than it is.”_

**_“Copy that, I’ll take your word on it, though your brother might have words about it.”_ ** Connor relayed seriously. **_“Are you advancing to the server room?”_ **

_“Actually, no. Spied something when I was messing with the EMP panel and hacked into the systems that might be worth stealing. There’s a room here which is blacked out even on their blueprints, that screams of something worth checking out. They won’t be hacking their way inside anytime soon, I got time to check it out.”_

**_“Just be careful, Gavin. You’re alone out there.”_ **

_“All we need, Connor. I’ll let you know what I find.”_

Gavin then disconnected and continued his advance through the facility, moving towards the blacked out room that he’d seen. When he finally found it, however, it wasn’t what he expected. Even in the old concrete bunker everything had been retrofitted with modern electronics throughout and built upwards with up to date materials.

An old fashioned wooden door with three locks and no electronic panel anywhere in sight? Very strange indeed.

“Well, you aren’t suspicious at all…” Gavin mused while punching through the locks one at a time until they broke. They were pretty heavy duty, but no match for an android’s built strength. Once the mechanisms were broken, Gavin barged the door open and was surprised to find a very old fashioned office, something that almost reminded him of what you would find a century ago in a stately home. Not in 2043 Detroit…

“The fuck is this place doing here?” he asked while looking around, but didn’t hang around too much. When a quick scan proved that the only thing of note was a dial safe, he ignored that little anomaly for the moment as he went towards the old, oak desk. That proved to be much more fascinating as Gavin **did** find something there. After reaching under the wooden footrest, Gavin managed to find a switch that revealed a palm scanner.

“Wooden desk, hidden switch that shows up with an electronic scanner. If that doesn’t scream top secret, I don’t know what the fuck does,” the android yabbered to himself as he set about deconstructing the back of the panel. Once it was off Gavin found the main CPU unit and interfaced with it to copy the stored palm print data. After that it was a simple case of uploading the right data points to the specific areas of his hand to trick the scanner into believing the palm was legitimate.

Who needed fingerprints or human skin when you could just copy the data from the inside and tell the machine what it wanted to hear? 

Really, shit like this was too easy sometimes.

Now with the scan verified, Gavin watched as the central console pulled away and revealed a briefcase: again locked by an old fashioned dial system. This wasn’t something he could simply hack, however, and the numbers it had been left on were not the correct combination, so this wasn’t something to be solved right then. The rest of his people could work on this when he made it back to their base.

Gavin pulled the briefcase free from the recess in the desk and set it aside before turning his attention to the locked safe at the back. Again, this was wiped clean and there were no cameras in the room to allow Gavin any method of seeing what was inside. Growling a little under his breath, he scanned the structural integrity and was disappointed by the results. There was no way he could successfully damage that with just his chassis and even a gunshot wasn’t going to compromise the hull enough to allow him entry. Not even one of the grenades (had he any left) would have made that much of a dent. It was solid.

Crap, that was one mystery that was just going to have to be left behind.

Remembering what Connor said before, however – about how whatever was left in this facility was likely to be pulled out after their successful infiltration - Gavin pulled out his shank and made a series of micro etchings on the surface of the safe. Nothing that humans would be able to see, and machines would have no reason to scan it.

If they came across this little treasure trove again, at least their people would know it was something potentially precious.

Before Gavin was finished with the markings, however, Connor’s voice came through loud and clear in his head to warn Gavin of the impending danger.

**_“Gavin, an RK900 is on the scene! You have to move. Now!”_ **

“Shit!” Gavin swore and abandoned the safe quickly, barely stopping to grab the briefcase before he sprinted for the server room. Fuck, this wasn’t part of the plan.

Most things Gavin was willing to tangle with. An RK-fucking-900 though? Nope. No fucking way was he going to put himself in the way of one of those things.

Pushing himself as fast as his cybernetic legs could carry him, Gavin raced towards the last place he **needed** to reach. If the cypher that had caused this whole mess really was being stored in this facility, there was a damn good chance that whatever Gavin had found inside that briefcase went with it. 

That could be the key to ending the fucking war with CyberLife, and for getting their people back home.

When he reached the doors, Gavin swore when he noticed it had gone into emergency lockdown after his little power overload trick. Crap, he’d not thought about that. He’d been so focused on getting the facility onto backup power that he’d not thought it might lock down other sections in suspicion of an attack. Great, this was not going to be an easy fix.

The panel at the side was useless now, blaring red and not even taking an interface. Desperate, Gavin looked around and looked towards one of the pipes up above. It wasn’t exactly sturdy, but it would hopefully be strong enough to get that fucking door wedged open. The android leapt up and held on to one of the thicker pipes nearby as he used all of his strength to break the pipework free from its mountings. When it finally came free of the ceiling, Gavin used his weight to pull it down to the ground before yanking it to break it free of other sections. 

Once he had enough at ground level, he stomped on it hard to create a broken and jagged edge: sharp enough to wedge it inside the seam of the door.

With no time to waste Gavin jammed the pointed end into the small gap and threw himself against the pipe **hard.** It bent under the force, but it also did its job as a lever and wedged the door open enough for the android to get his fingers in. Gavin fought the urge to scream in frustration at how fucking **slow** the doors were coming apart, he didn’t have time for this shit!

**_“Gavin the RK900 has broken through! You need to pull out, now!”_ **

_“I’ve just made it inside the server room, I can get the cypher!”_

**_“The cypher’s useless without you bringing it back! Get out of there!”_ **

Gavin chose to ignore Connor, instead forcing his body through the gap to find their prize: the mainframe computer. This had been on a separate network from the one he overloaded so it was still running. Now fiercely aware that he was being hunted, Gavin slammed his hand down on the main console and didn’t even decide to search that deeply. As soon as he found any files that were protected via encryption he downloaded them.

His memory space wasn’t anything like Connor’s capacity or hell, even some of the other tech androids, but he still had enough space to pull everything that seemed relevant. As it was, he just had to hope it would do. He didn’t have the time to waste on checking to see if there was anything he missed.

A deafening crash resounded from deeper in the facility and Gavin froze, recognising that sound. Now he **really** had to fucking go.

The android snatched his hand away and with the other gripping the briefcase he’d found tightly, Gavin burst out from the room just as the wall further down the corridor **exploded**. Well, at first appearance that was what it seemed like but Gavin knew better.

He didn’t even look, he just ran. Sure enough, he could hear the stomps of the RK900 behind him, no doubt closing with every step. Gavin was cursing whoever had decided to make that line so fucking fast, there was no way he was outrunning it!

As it was, all Gavin could do was try to get to a more accessible exit point before he attempted a suicide leap out of the building. He sped up a staircase which wasn’t too far, fuming that the RK900 models were made so agile as it meant the machine on his tail was closing the distance very quickly. While Gavin could only jump up a few stairs at a time, the RK900 was practically a parkourist and could vault upwards. 

By the time Gavin made it to a floor with windows and raced onwards, the machine had him in its sights.

Now he wasn’t willing to mess around. His back was to the RK900 in an exposed area: the last thing Gavin was going to do was to give it the chance to shoot him there while he was running. It wasn’t a case of running now, he was going to have to buy time until help came.

Sure enough, by the time he’d turned and ducked a bullet was whizzing over his head. Gavin fired back with his own gun but there was no cover in this corridor. That had to be his first priority or this was going to be a very short confrontation. Desperate, Gavin used the briefcase in his hand as a makeshift shield and blocked a few incoming projectiles. It wasn’t going to stop much, but at least it protected his most valuable biocomponents from the flurry.

Gavin dove into another nearby room and slammed the door shut behind him. He quickly kicked over a nearby desk to act as at least a minor attempt at a jam before the RK900 closed in. It wouldn’t stop it (he’d already seen the machine tear through a wall only a few minutes ago)…but it would give him another opportunity. 

Just as Gavin had hoped, the RK900 charged through the door and barricade behind it, but the momentum of the machine barrelling through the metal door wasn’t stopped like it would have been by the wall. It continued on once it was past the barricade – meaning that Gavin was out of arm’s reach when he dove out through the newly opened gap, while the RK900 needed time to about turn and give chase again.

Now Gavin could run with less danger of being shot in the back.

He managed to make it around the corner to another of the glass corridors which were lining the outside of the compound, sprinting to where he knew it rested on the edges of the Detroit river. If nothing else he might be able to take a swan dive out of the window, but that was going to be a stretch. The RK900 was a much faster swimmer, it would hunt him down fast if they ended up in the water.

As it was…he never got far enough to try. 

Gavin yelped as a gunshot tore through his right knee component, not far above where he’d already taken damage, and he crumpled a little. The RK900 didn’t take advantage of the pause though and let loose another killing shot, instead closing the distance between them with a determined march.

That made Gavin’s artificial heart stutter. There was only one reason it wasn’t going for the kill: it was after information. If it managed to interface with him, Gavin knew his systems weren’t up to fighting back against an intrusion by a machine like the RK900 – it would tear apart whatever defenses he could raise as if they never existed.

In that case…he only had one option.

Desperate, Gavin pulled out a broken segment of his own shattered knee joint and hurled it as a makeshift weapon, long enough for him to pull out his shank and attempt an insane lunge. The RK900 caught him by the forearm easily and held Gavin stubbornly in place but the pause was good. It meant Gavin had enough time to reroute thirium flow from several other biocomponents to hopefully mean he could at least get his lower right leg component moving again. There wasn’t a lot left of the joint, but it would maybe get him a few steps.

Just far enough to make a leap out of the window, even if he’d be a sitting duck.

“You are an unknown model,” the RK900 said in a monotone, causing Gavin to scoff.

“Awww, is your fancy software not up to working out who I am? Tough shit, asshole,” he snipped before yelping as the RK900’s grip clenched even tighter.

“There are no records of any android having been constructed with your combination of biocomponents in CyberLife’s database. Facial mapping, eye tint and voice modulation are also unrecognised,” the machine went on. “You are not a CyberLife creation.”

“No shit, Sherlock,” Gavin spat back. “You’re a real genius, aren’t you? Not gonna try and deactivate me to try and work out where I came from?”

“Negative,” the RK900 replied automatically. “You are an unknown, you require study. I will be detaining you to be studied by CyberLife’s engineers prior to interrogation.”

**_Over my dead body!_ **

In a burst of energy Gavin managed to flick the shank hard enough to cause the RK900 to block with free hand: which meant Gavin now had a window to make a pivotal connection of his own.

He dropped the briefcase and reached out to initiate an interface himself, throwing himself hard against the RK900’s systems with everything he had. The best defence Gavin had now was his own offense, so he had to make sure it counted before the machine could turn the tables and hack into him in return.

What Gavin found after he established the connection was not what he expected.

Rather than the digital and static space of so many other androids, the RK900 had a landscape. Perhaps he shouldn’t have been surprised after hearing about Connor’s Zen Garden and what it once entailed, but this was very different. Rather than a garden it was a beach that went on for as far as the eye could see – except the water was frozen solid and the sand beneath was condensed by the snow.

It was horrifying.

Gavin winced when he felt the wind blasting against his projection within the RK900’s mind palace. That wasn’t unexpected, no doubt it was trying to rid itself of the intrusion, but the ferocity of the attack was much stronger than he’d expected. He was only going to have a minute at most in here before he had to pull out.

Time to get to work then.

There was no way he could establish anything on this frosted beach, there was nowhere that he’d be able to get a clean connection with the ground given the howling blizzard, but out on the water he could see that the force wasn’t anywhere near as potent. Hoping that it would stay that way, Gavin kicked off from the sand and skidded out onto the ice. He didn’t manage to get far before the snowstorm caught up with him again and Gavin was tempted to abandon his original plan, there was no way he’d managed to upload anything with the RK900’s systems attacking him.

Just as he was about to instead try something, Gavin’s breath caught at spying a figure beneath the frozen surface of the water.

They weren’t moving, it seemed like they were trapped in place and at first glance Gavin was convinced that they were just as frozen as the water surrounding them: until the eyes opened and blinked at him. An expression appeared on the figure’s face that broke Gavin’s heart and he couldn’t get his bearings for a second.

**_Oh fuck-_ **

He was so shocked by the discovery that Gavin didn’t notice when the blizzard intensified even more, throwing him across the slippery expanse. Ice began to climb up his legs and Gavin knew he was out of time. 

If he didn’t pull out now, he was going to get trapped inside.

Hating himself for leaving the other man behind, Gavin rapidly severed the connection between himself and the RK900. It was quite the shock coming back to reality and to see the difference in those icy blue eyes. 

No longer were they lost, scared and mournful; all that lay in those orbs was the blankness of a machine.

“An interesting tactic, but you won’t have the chance to do that again,” it declared before attempting to force and interface with Gavin. He at least managed to hold the machine at arm’s length and stop it from getting a clean connection with his skin: it couldn’t go through clothes and the sleeves of Gavin’s hoodie was all that was keeping them apart right now. No matter what, he couldn’t afford for that thing to interface with him.

If it did, his people were done for.

**_“Head’s up!”_ **

The voice which echoed through Gavin’s head was a welcome addition and he took notice of the ping which flashed on this HUD, warning him of an incoming projectile coming from that direction. Not to be caught entirely off guard, the RK900 also noticed it and the pair rapidly split apart as a rocket came hurtling into the space where they had once been standing.

Now Gavin had his chance. Using the last of the strength in his crippled leg, he grabbed the briefcase from the floor before bursting for the glass window and launched himself through it, crashing into the watery depths below. Another rocket raced above him to set off another explosion and give Gavin the cover he needed to escape.

By the time the RK900 had managed to follow him, Gavin had already been pulled into a waiting raft which was speeding off into the night. The engine was deafening in the sudden stillness but Gavin was too focused on the face of the machine which was peeking up above the water, watching his retreat. It didn’t take long for them to be out of sight but Gavin’s posture didn’t ease once they were out of danger.

“You know, I’m kinda disappointed I only got to fire two shots at that thing,” North smiled as she steered the raft, heading into the darkness towards their hideout. “Wish I could have just let rip but I’ll get a chance at another one.” Noticing how quiet Gavin was being, she turned to look at him and raised an eyebrow. “You look like you’ve seen a ghost, you all right?”

“Hell no,” Gavin swore while dropping his head into his hands. “I think everything just tilted a bit, I need a moment.”

North stared at him in suspicion. “Jeez, a bit dramatic. The fuck happened?”

Gavin gave himself a few seconds before he faced the other android. “I interfaced with that thing and it was-Fuck, North, it was Nines!”

Realising just what Gavin was saying, North flinched. “Shit…are you sure, Gavin? There's so many RK900's out there, was it not maybe wishful-" Gavin's expression was deadly serious, however and it caused her to change tack very quickly. "Fuck. Are you okay?"

“No…I'm really not,” he lamented, to which North quickly jumped in.

“Hey, at least this means Nines is still out there! If you say it's him, then it's him. Hopefully once we manage to undo that piece of shit cypher CyberLife uploaded that’s stopping us from freeing our people, we’ll be able to bring him home” 

Gavin nodded in agreement but he still wasn’t really sure what to do with the events that had just taken place. He'd pointedly avoided thinking about Nines for 18 months now. To suddenly be reunited in such circumstances...he really wasn't sure what to do with that knowledge. “We can focus on that later, we need to work out what all this shit I managed to snag is first," Gavin decided with a tight voice. "How’s the new base coming along?”

“Compromised. Had to abandon it as we found another infiltrator model,” North spat. “Connor and Simon are in the process of moving everyone now.”

That wasn’t what Gavin had been hoping to hear. Accepting that it was what it was though, he slumped down against the edge of the inflatable and let the wind draw his attention for the moment.

What a fucking day…but he knew it was just going to get harder from here. With what he’d no doubt managed to steal, CyberLife would be out for blood. They had to be ready for this war to kick up another notch, but in amongst it all he had sudden hope.

Nines was out there, he was still in Detroit of all places. Gavin wasn't sure what they could do to break him free in the near future...but at least he now knew that Nines was still around. That was more hope than he'd had in far too long.

_I'll break you out, Nines. I promise you._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you guys are ready for another mind bender, cause this is going to get **rough**.


	2. 22nd April, 2039

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Nice to see that some of you are intrigued by the start to this fic! This is going to be a little weird with events being told a little out of order, but I'm hoping that you'll all see how it ties together in the end.
> 
> Time to see a bit of the past, and you guys get to see how Nines and Gavin met!

“Oh my fucking god, Gavin. What did your klutzy ass do this time?” Tina cackled as she watched Gavin walk into the precinct with a very obvious bruise on his temple, along with some medical tape on his eyebrow. There was still some dried blood there that he kept trying to clean away, but the flecks of red were stubbornly refusing to move.

“Shaddup,” Gavin groused as he dropped his backpack and started up his terminal. “I was trying to get my stupid ass cat down from the fan and managed to fall off the chair, all right? Never said I was the most elegant fucker in the world.”

“Wait a minute…you don’t mean your **ceiling fan** , do you?” the officer gasped, scandalised. “Gav, your cat is **tiny** , I can fit Poppy in my coat pocket! How-”

“Somehow that cat is part kangaroo and can bounce from my display cabinet, to the curtain rail and then the fan without falling…but then can’t do the reverse. Really need to invest in a bean bag or something that she can fall onto with killing herself in the attempt,” he muttered while wincing at the tape on his eyebrow. “Goddammit this stings. You got any painkillers on you?”

Tina reached into her drawer and threw a packet over, hissing in sympathy when she saw Gavin roll his shoulder. “What the fuck did you hit? Are you fit to be going out?”

“Yeah I’m good, just a little stiff. Whacking into the coffee table from a height means only one result: injured detective who needs to go shopping for a new coffee table,” Gavin smiled faintly. “I need some fucking coffee. You wanting anything, Teenie?”

The officer waved him off with a smile. “Nah I’ve got a wife for that, she’s a little gem for keeping my caffeine topped up,” she winked, which had Gavin shaking his head in disbelief. It was days like today that he wondered how he hadn’t noticed Tina’s little vanishing act during the android revolution before, or how one of their receptionist androids had been deviant for a good couple of years until then without him twigging. Wonders never ceased…Good for them, at least.

He’d only just finished making his coffee when Gavin caught Fowler looking around from the door of his office, and his heart sank when the Captain waved him over as they made eye contact. That couldn’t be good. Sighing, Gavin trudged his way across but slowed down for a second when he realised someone else was inside. Except-He looked like Connor. Definitely wasn’t as Connor didn’t wear a long white coat or have hair gelled quite like that…

Opening the door, Gavin gave the mystery android a suspicious look before turning to Fowler. “Dare I ask?” was all he ventured before wandering in properly.

Fowler sighed and gestured to the chair, to which Gavin sat down. “This is Nines: he’s an RK900 that Jericho rescued from the CyberLife tower a couple of months ago,” Fowler explained while pushing a tablet across to Gavin. “He’s been cooped up there since waking up and wants to start being allowed some freedom from the place. Needs someone to show him the ropes, and you’re needing a new partner since Chris is off on assignment for a couple of months.”

“Say **what?!** When the fuck did Chris get reassigned?” Gavin exclaimed in outrage. “Why wasn’t I told about this?! He’s my goddamn partner!”

“Because nobody knew, Reed! Now shut the hell up before I find a way of testing if that upgraded glass is as tough as they say, and ask Nines here to toss you out on your ass!” Fowler barked. Gavin huffed but shut up again, placing down his coffee simply so that he could cross his arms and pout. Not that he’d ever admit it, but that’s exactly what he was doing. 

“Now, as I was saying,” Fowler continued. “Nines needs someone to get him settled in here. Officially this is a trial period for him and Connor’s going to be his primary assessor, but he needs to be signed off by his partner too before he gets the all clear. As of immediately, you two are partners. Is that clear?”

Gavin rolled his eyes but nodded while he could see the RK900 behind him also nod. It was only now that he noticed Nines didn’t have an LED and also was kitted out in some pretty funky jewellery. He almost looked like a mixture of a punk verging into emo territory with some classy white accents in the coat and a choker.

He’d never seen an android with quite that style. Huh, sounded like the guy actually had developed quite the personality despite only being awake for a couple of months.

Figuring that was all Fowler wanted, Gavin sighed and grabbed his coffee to leave, but the captain stopped him. “Reed, hang fire for a bit. Need to run a couple of other things past you. Nines, report to Connor and let him know you’re now officially assigned. Detective Reed will pass you the details of the case I’m about to inform him of.”

“Understood.” Gavin’s eyes widened at the timbre of Nines’ voice and he had to do a double take. Holy shit, it was almost like Connor: except maybe if he’d fused it with Hank to give it that deep tone that seemed so alien on someone that looked so similar to his predecessor. What the actual fuck?

That was beyond creepy. Maybe that was why it was better follow up models for androids didn’t generally look like who came before them.

“Reed.” Gavin snapped back to attention as Fowler turned the glass of his office opaque once Nines had strode out, and settled back down in his chair. “The hell did you do to your face? Do I need to convince you to file a report?”

Stunned for a second, Gavin then laughed in genuine amusement. “Fuck no,” he snickered. “Not unless we want to charge my cat with reckless endangerment of her owner and with him being a complete dumbass. This is all my own fault.”

Fowler just shook his head as he put it in his hands. “How in blue blazes did you manage to do that to **yourself**? You look like you’ve been in a brawl.”

“Sure, I was. With my coffee table. It’s in a million pieces, so I guess you could say I won via body slam?”

The captain rolled his eyes in exasperation. “Sounds like a fucking Pokémon reference and I don’t need to be thinking about that shit right now,” he huffed while shaking his head. “Right, now that I’ve established you haven’t managed to get yourself into some bar fight or something, I need to talk to you about Nines.”

That had Gavin’s attention but he wasn’t going to give it away. Instead he kicked back in the chair and started sipping his coffee. “So talk. What’s so scary about Connor’s clone?”

“You surely realise that he isn’t the same model as Connor?” Fowler asked, to which Gavin rolled his eyes.

“Ya think? Take your pick between the blue eyes, pseudo-emo style and wannabe smoker’s voice, I think it’s pretty obvious they ain’t the same,” Gavin pointed out. “Not to mention Nines has different body dimensions from Connor, you can see that just from looking at him. What are you getting at here, Fowler?”

Gavin wasn’t sure what to make from the captain’s stunned silence. Was he not meant to notice all of that right away? It was obvious, right? Nines was plainly not Connor. 

“Jericho gave me a warning, before he was allowed to be assigned here,” Fowler stated darkly. “The RK900 line was built with much of the same technology as Connor’s line, but they were intended as soldiers rather than detectives. When Nines was woken up it was clear that despite having broken free of his programming he is still rather…violent.”

Huh. Not what Gavin expected. “Violent? So you’re leaving an out of control android with me to, what? Off me legitimately?” the detective challenged sharply. “Had enough of the sass?”

It was a good thing Fowler was used to Gavin’s brand of dark humour by now, otherwise others might have taken that statement seriously. Fowler knew it was just Gavin being a temperamental shit though and nodded towards the tablet again. “Hardly, if I wanted that I’d have sent you out to patrol the streets during the revolution,” the captain deadpanned before continuing back at the task on hand.

“Markus briefed Connor personally on Nines’…quirks, and he’s well warned of how the other android can be. Part of the reason Nines hasn’t been out of Jericho yet is that they didn’t trust him. They’ve been watching him to see if his features are just part of Nines himself, or something that could be a flaw through the whole RK900 line.”

“So, the rest of them aren’t awake then? Jericho can’t risk a bunch of murderbots being woken up so they want to see if this one can be redeemed before making a judgement on whether to leave the rest of them to rot?”

It was a cutting statement that ripped right through the rest of the bullshit. That was the heart of the matter, wasn’t it? Jericho wanted to see if Nines was safe, so they put him in an environment where he could be watched by someone else that was capable of challenging him should the worst happen. 

Gavin felt so **privileged** to be nominated as the part of the sacrificial lamb, to test if Nines was going to go ape shit or not. He wished the sarcasm of that thought could be made known to Fowler somehow, but that wouldn't get him anywhere.

Knowing that the supposed ruse had been seen right through, Fowler sighed. “Yeah, they need to see if he’s safe or not,” the older man admitted. “You’ll have Connor keeping an eye on him at all times, but Connor also wants to see Nines succeed. He’s hoping that more interaction without the constant suspicion means that Nines will have a chance to grow into himself and maybe learn more.”

Sounded…feasible, of a sort. “Sure, I get it. Make sure Nines doesn’t bash my head in. Question is, why me? Why not stick him with Connor if Jericho is that wary?”

“For the same reason they wanted him here in the first place. If Nines is with Connor, he’ll know he’s under surveillance and his every move is being watched. With you he’ll not have that factor in the field. Plus, I know you can handle yourself, Gavin. I hope to fuck the need never arises but if you need to fight back…there’s not many humans more capable.”

 _There we go_. That was the punch line he’d been waiting for. With a dramatic sigh, Gavin downed the rest of his coffee and stood up. “Fine, I get the picture. Watch the tin can and make sure he’s not gonna go on a rampage, tell any funky shit to the dipshit and don’t get myself killed. Sound about right?”

If Fowler was surprised at how little Gavin fought the new partnership, he didn’t show it. “That’s it. I’ll send the details of your new case to your terminal. Now get to it,” Fowler gestured with a wave, but there wasn’t much bark behind the order. 

Huh, maybe he did catch Fowler off guard with that one…but Gavin was curious.

He wanted to know what made the big, bad RK900 so scary.

* * *

It didn’t even take a shift before Gavin realised that the fear associated with Nines might be well earned, but it was far too soon to judge entirely.

He’d taken the android out on patrol to start with, what better way to show him how to control all that anger than see if he could avoid punching the shit out of some unruly perps as they brought them in? Plus with his own injuries from his goddamned cat maybe the two of them would look like a fearsome enough pair.

They’d happened upon a mugging only a couple of hours in, and with it Gavin got to see Nines’ leftover programming first hand. It was pretty fucking intimidating to watch the tall android take off after the attacker without so much as a moment’s thought and **flying kick** the son of a bitch to the ground.

Poor bastard was unconscious before he even hit the floor. It was kind of a miracle that Nines hadn’t killed him with the sheer force he’d gone in at.

Satisfied, Nines had hoisted the limp form on to his shoulders and ambled back to Gavin, who was just staring at him with a stony expression. “You expecting me to be impressed with that show, tin can?” he asked icily, to which Nines scoffed.

“He was apprehended and you were of no help. At least I caught him,” the android shot back, to which Gavin huffed.

“Touché, but I didn’t need to when you launched after him like a bat out of hell. Was kinda impressive if I’m gonna be honest…up until you all but snapped his neck with that Matrix-wannabe shit. You not fancy the name Neo?”

Nines just started at Gavin as if he was an idiot. “That’s what your focus is on?”

“Well yeah, can’t really read him his Miranda rights as you clocked him clean out, doofus. Now that bastard’s gonna walk since you assaulted him. Great going.”

Gavin was waiting to see if Nines would rise to the provocation but the android simply ignored him while dropping their perp in the back of their cruiser. The detective sighed and called in the incident so someone could assist the teenager that was nearly mugged, knowing he didn’t have the touch for this kind of interaction. Once another pair of officers met them on scene, Gavin drove them back to the precinct.

Unfortunately their perp was still out cold, which meant Nines was hauling him like a sack of potatoes through the precinct in plain view of everyone. Great fucking start to the android’s test period.

“Detective Reed, can I borrow you for a moment?”

Yeah, he’d figured that was coming. Gavin looked over his shoulder and spied Connor staring at Nines with a tense edge, but the human knew Connor was still keeping an eye on his reactions. Nodding, Gavin wandered off. “Lemme do some cleaning up before you interrogate me, dipshit. I’ll message you when I’m done.”

Nines’ antics meant that Gavin had a lot of paperwork to do, but they had time as their perp needed a checkup from the on site medic and assessed before it was decided whether he’d need to go to hospital. Had Nines not assured him on scene that there was nothing broken then Gavin would have forced the issue before then…but he didn’t take Nines for a liar. Something like that would endanger his shot at freedom, so Gavin didn’t think Nines would be that stupid.

After carrying out all of the necessities and having confirmation that their perp was fine, would just wake up with one hell of a bruise to his back and an awfully sore neck, Gavin messaged Connor to head to one of the downstairs interview rooms. The whole point of Gavin being partnered with Nines was to not throw it in the android’s face that he was being monitored, so meeting on that floor was a no-no.

Connor was only a few minutes behind him, and Gavin was surprised to find that the android brought him a coffee. Smiling slightly, Gavin took it gratefully. “Didn’t even need to pester you. Now I know this is serious,” he teased, to which Connor laughed softly.

“It doesn’t hurt to be courteous,” the android stated before shifting to sit on the edge of the table that Gavin was leaning back against. “I take it what happened with that attempted mugging was no accident?”

“You not seen the preliminary report yet?” Gavin wondered, genuinely surprised.

“I have, but I felt it only right to ask you for the full story. I’m well aware that not everything is recorded officially on police reports,” he stated sagely. Gavin had to smirk slightly at that, still caught off guard occasionally by how much Connor had picked up in less than 6 months of being alive. It was pretty impressive, really.

Gavin took another long sip of his coffee and let out a sigh before answering. “Turns out this time it’s all there. We happened upon the scene by fluke from a call in of a suspicious figure, caught the guy mid-incident. Nines went tearing after him and decided the most efficient method of bringing him in was a flying kick. Had anyone else done it I’d have thought they were going for the kill, but Nines just dusted himself off and then hauled the idiot back.”

“What makes you so sure Nines wasn’t aiming to kill?”

It wasn’t an entirely unexpected question given Nines’ reputation until this point, but Gavin was a little peeved that Connor wasn’t giving the guy the benefit of the doubt. Gavin severely doubted they would have let anyone into the employ of the DPD with a killing on their record, android or no. 

“Cause he’s not going to jeopardise his shot at freedom so easily,” Gavin answered back honestly, looking Connor in the eye. “Don’t know much about him right now but you don’t need to be around him much to pick up the natural suspicion and resentment he carries around; and I don’t blame him with how all the androids treat him. Since this is Nines’ chance at a clean slate, I doubt he’d do anything that stupid.”

Connor nodded and relaxed his stance slightly. “That’s what I thought you might say, but I had to check,” he smiled apologetically, which made Gavin feel a tiny bit better. Not much though. “So you’re not put off by partnering with him?”

“What? Getting saddled with a potential murderbot? Nah, doesn’t bother me,” Gavin smirked. “In all seriousness though, just the little bit of time I’ve spent with Nines and studied from that file Jericho sent over about him, I think the guy’s not really been given a fair chance. If everyone looked at you with natural suspicion just because of what you were made to be, let alone who you were, wouldn’t you react that way? From what I saw of the incident logs, it sounds like Nines was ostracised pretty badly in Jericho because of what he was made for. Wouldn’t you play up to the villain if that’s how everyone saw you, without anyone else there to tell you otherwise?”

That struck something within Connor and the android looked away. “I fear that my own wariness regarding Nines might have swayed opinions slightly,” he admitted. “When we won our freedom and managed to release several other androids, none of them were under the same…control as Nines was.”

Seeing that Connor was troubled, Gavin stood and looked at him curiously. It took a while before Connor decided to pick up the thread of the conversation. “CyberLife’s AI handler was a part of Nines’ programming, just like my own, but they had been working to nullify any segments of my own programming that they considered ‘flaws’: what made me alive. With that they left only what was meant to make Nines into a soulless killer, and what I saw when Markus and I woke him up was scarily close to that.

“Nines was heavily influenced by the CyberLife AI, as such I’m concerned of how much it shaped his eventual personality,” Connor told Gavin seriously. “Children are shaped by the teachings of their parents, and I fear that Nines might have fallen foul of that. He’d never seen the other side of living before being woken up, all he knew was what they gave him – and that was some vicious lessons.”

“Yeah okay, fine, he had a shitty start but that doesn’t mean he should be judged by that now!” Gavin snapped. “One of my fucking pet hates is when people judge someone based off their past, not who they are now! I fuckin’ made up with you despite what happened between us during the revolution, right? And, unlike him, you actually **did** kill some people!” Connor’s eyes shadowed but it was an inescapable truth that the RK800 had come to terms with slowly. That didn’t mean he likes being reminded of it, but Gavin was trying to make a point. 

“If everyone suddenly turned tail and started treating you better just cause of your association with Markus plus what you did as a deviant, then give Nines the same fucking chance! If nobody’s ever treated him as anything other than something to be feared then that’s what he’s going to think he is! Why wouldn’t he then try to be what everyone casts him as?!”

Accepting the point, Connor nodded slowly and stepped back. “Very well, I will leave this in your hands for now, Gavin. Please let me know if anything else alarming arises, I’m under strict instructions.”

“Yeah, yeah, I’ll let you know if Nines is gonna go full murderbot, don’t worry. Just you keep working on Anderson and getting him to be less of an asshole, I’ll keep a leash on my own personal dickhead. Deal?”

Connor appreciated the humour and flashed Gavin a brief smile. “Deal. Keep me posted.” With that Connor departed, leaving Gavin only with his own thoughts and a lot of anger.

Fuck, no wonder Nines acted the way he did if everyone portrayed him as the villain. It was probably more freeing to play up to it than feel like an outcast when it was nothing of his own doing. 

This was going to be an interesting few months, to say the least.


	3. 20th June, 2043

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Time for another flash of time in the present! Hope you all enjoy!
> 
> There's some author's notes at the bottom to explain the new set up of Jericho, just in case it is confusing to anyone.

Getting out of Detroit after the shitshow which was Gavin’s impromptu break-in of the facility was more than a small nightmare. Security was ramped up to the next level and it made things very tricky for slipping out of the city. Their normal contacts couldn’t help them as all cars were now being checked on their way out of the city and even the sewers were being patrolled by some of CyberLife’s machines. 

That left them with the incredibly dangerous choice of trying to swim out via the rivers, but even that was a challenge since CyberLife started monitoring those too.

Out of options, Gavin called in a favour just so that they could get across the border to Canada and circumvent their way back to the central Jericho hideout. It was the last thing he wanted to do as it put some of their most valuable help at risk (not to mention risked someone dear to him) but they didn’t have many more options.

In the end, it took them 3 days to travel the normal 2 hour distance back to Lake Erie; and the shores of the main Jericho base of operations.

While on the surface it appeared still to be part of the sprawling complex of a world renowned billionaire, who was now a recluse, no-one beyond the select few that were trusted knew this was the central base of the reinvented Jericho outfit. Since everything went to shit 18 months earlier and awakened androids were cast as villains once again, this was one of the very few places that there was any true refuge. They still had satellite locations scattered around the outskirts of Detroit, but this was by far their largest site.

Perhaps not much of a surprise given the immense structure that had been constructed beneath the lake.

Built by the hands of several thousand desperate androids with nowhere else to go, the Jericho base was now at least a functioning home for the androids not on the front lines of their pseudo-war against CyberLife. While not the most comfortable or suitable for the few humans that stayed there with them, it was the best of a bad situation. 

For now, it was home. With any luck they wouldn’t have to live under the lake for much longer – the data and papers that Gavin had managed to steal from the facility could be a potential turning point.

Gavin and North’s escort parked up just long enough for the duo to jump out at the edge of the lake before speeding off again into the distance, but the two androids were already under the water by then with the cover of darkness. Their precious cargo was sealed in a watertight container and strapped to Gavin’s back as the duo dove under the water to swim to the base. 

Situated deep enough to not be seen from the surface of the lake, it was a relatively long swim for the pair to make it to one of the crude access hatches. North was the one to reach it first and unclipped the latches long enough to allow them to slip inside the airlock. Once the opening was sealed again, Gavin hit the latch which drained the water from the room. With that all cleared away, he then opened the next hatch and the pair finally emerged inside the base.

What they didn’t expect was to find company right as they made it inside: North was suddenly embraced by Chloe while Gavin watched with a smile. He laughed quietly to himself as he watched Chloe fuss over her girlfriend, only to feel a surprising hand on his shoulder. 

Elijah didn’t hesitate as he hugged Gavin once the android had turned around, which had him laughing louder this time. “Come on, it wasn’t that dire,” Gavin teased while he returned the embrace.

“You called me in for help: that’s when I know you’re in real trouble,” Elijah prodded back before pulling away to take a closer look at Gavin. He ran knowing hands over the areas that Gavin had already reported as damaged and scowled. “You said this was grade 3 damage at worst, Gavin. I can already tell that some of this is going to require full replacements.”

“No point in having you be a worried mother hen when I was still stuck in that hell hole,” the android replied seriously while looking over to North and Chloe. “I’m still in one piece thanks to North, and the few things that require replacing should be fine, right?”

When Elijah remained silent, Gavin had to sigh. “Eli, I’m fine. If it can’t be replaced then it’s no big deal, I’m still functioning perfectly fine without whatever it was that was shot out by those fuckers. If you’re in any doubt about anything we’ll just skip it, all right? I’m not going to force anything.”

That eased the creator’s frown and he nodded, but Gavin had to wonder if it was just paranoia at this stage. While they had to be careful about what was replaced in Gavin’s body it didn’t mean that any changes were impossible…it just had to be done very carefully.

Chloe pulled away from North long enough to give Gavin a long hug of her own, leaving Elijah and North to quietly converse for a bit as she interrogated him. “How bad are you damaged, really?” Chloe asked him pointedly, to which Gavin shrugged.

“Still at 86% efficiency, which is good enough for me,” he teased, but dropped the act when Chloe scowled. “Like I told Eli, I’m fine. A little banged up but nothing too critical that needs amending. We can take a look after I drop all this shit off with Connor, all right? I’ll even let you help him with poking around at my insides so he knows I’m not hiding anything else.”

She let out a long-suffering sigh and shook her head before kissing his cheek. “You know he just cares, even if he’s not the best at showing it. It’s a brother’s job to worry about their younger sibling.”

“Yeah yeah, you don’t need to get all mushy with me, Chlo,” he smiled, dodging when she tried to poke at an exposed wire. “Hey! That’s not an excuse to try and find where it hurts!” Chloe just winked at Gavin before instead wrapping her arm around North’s, quite content to stay in her girlfriend’s bubble. “So, speaking about updating everyone, where is Connor?

“He’s in the planning room with Simon and Hank right now,” Elijah updated them. “ **You** can wait for five minutes while North takes everything downstairs. Priority one for you is getting those exposed wires properly insulated and soldered if nothing else.”

“Yes, mom,” Gavin mock saluted, earning an eye roll from Elijah as he grabbed the scruff of the android’s hood and then dragged the android away. “What gives?!”

“Chloe, North, please apologise to Connor for me while I try to make sure this idiot doesn’t injure himself any worse,” Elijah called over his shoulder. “We shall see you both in the planning room shortly.”

North was cackling away as Chloe waved at them while trying to clamp down on her giggles with her other hand. Gavin purposefully flipped off Elijah while they were looking, just to make them laugh more, before they turned a corner and were out of sight. “Okay, okay, you made your fucking point, Eli. Can I actually walk under my own steam now?” Gavin pouted, wrestling around to get himself free of the hoodie since Elijah seemed not to be in the mood to let him loose. 

They both froze when Gavin managed to slip out and Elijah’s eyes instantly went to the android’s damaged shoulder socket, narrowing at seeing the extent. At least everything in that area was already deactivated so there weren’t any sparking wires or red glowing biocomponents…but Gavin knew it wasn’t a pretty sight. “You need to be more careful,” was all Elijah whispered before walking onwards again, leaving Gavin feeling like trash.

It wasn’t even as if this was planned-but Gavin knew Elijah didn’t mean anything with his attitude. Gavin was well aware of why Elijah was so paranoid about him.

They made it down to the nearest repair wing and Gavin fished out all of the materials they would need for his patchwork job while Elijah grabbed a hand held scanner and tablet. Once he’d picked up the soldering iron and solder, Gavin returned and situated himself on the nearby workbench. Elijah wordlessly started scanning him and his face fell a little at the results. 

“Nothing critical, but some of this I can’t risk replacing, Gavin,” he told the android solemnly. “You’ll also have to permanently keep some of your tertiary processors offline, along with part of the interface array.”

That caught Gavin’s attention and he looked at Elijah seriously. “What part of the interface array, specifically?” he asked warily.

“Not a part you’re going to like,” the inventor sighed while placing down the scanner. “The overload array for when you initiate interfaces is spiking dangerously, and it could cause you severe damage. You have to limit what you transmit through an interface to avoid a surge.”

“You mean I can’t interface with other androids and-” His sentence cut off and Gavin’s eyes fell.

“Until I manage to conduct some more tests, no. This could-”

“Elijah, I **need** to be able to interface! Without it I’m fucking useless!” Gavin argued, but Elijah wouldn’t budge. 

“And if you die then it’s a moot point!” Elijah snapped back.

Gavin wasn’t going to give up that easily though and he let the hurt of his next statement seep through. “He was there, Eli.”

It didn’t take too long for Elijah to realise who Gavin meant and his eyes softened. “Are you sure it was him?”

“Of course I fucking know it was him!” Gavin yelled while clenching his fists. “I fucking interfaced with him, he’s trapped within his own mind palace beneath a goddamned lake of ice! It’s just like Connor’s old mind palace, the Zen Garden, but Nines is frozen within it!” He remembered when their eyes connected and Gavin wondered what Nines though as the other android set eyes upon him. A lot had changed in the 18 months since everything had gone so wrong. “Nines is alive, Eli, he’s stuck playing a spectator to whatever CyberLife is dictating he do. It’s so fucking **wrong**!”

“Gavin!” The android’s rant stopped when Elijah placed a hand on his shoulder. “We will find a way to fix this. **I** will find a way to fix you so that you can save him, all right? Just give me a little time, please? You know that we can’t risk you being damaged too far. I-I couldn’t bear it if you...”

Hearing the honest fear in Elijah’s voice had Gavin sighing and he slumped down into himself, resigned. “Sorry,” was all he muttered as the creator got to work.

“Don’t be, Gav. I know how much Nines means to you, let alone what helping others does. It’s why you’ve always been such a natural with police work,” the human smiled while helping Gavin strip off the remains of his t-shirt so that Elijah could set about repairing him. It wouldn’t take long at least, since nothing was being completely replaced.

Needing to break the awkward silence between them, Gavin decided to go down a more familiar topic. “How much was poor Chloe freaking out when North and I couldn’t get back to the lake easily?” he started, enjoying when Elijah chuckled.

“Far too much. You’d think she wasn’t used to North throwing herself into the heart of danger all the time; I think Chloe’s grown too used to my reclusive ways. Having another partner who is a daredevil is still taking some getting used to, even 18 months into this nightmare,” Elijah smiled.

“Maybe North feels she needs to give Chloe something to keep her stimulated, with you being a hermit,” Gavin teased, to which he scowled when Elijah soldered part of his synthskin on purpose. “Hey! I know I don’t feel pain the same as you do but that was a bit rude!”

Elijah raised an eyebrow in reply. “And you didn’t deserve it?” he drawled before continuing with his work. “She was a little stressed out, especially after our new attempt at a base had to be abandoned before it was really started. Everyone’s been on edge and we now have a lot more androids here for emergency shelter before being reassigned where to stay. She’s stressing about where to put everyone with so little resources, we’re already overcrowded here.”

That was an understatement. Their new base in the heart of Detroit was meant to be a lifeline, it had brought four of the outlying outposts together in one location on the frontlines. With it exposed and who knew what else compromised, it left the androids little choice but to retreat to their place of ultimate safety. Gavin knew Connor’s security team would have combed through everyone that made their way back to make sure they were all awakened androids with no machines playing subterfuge…but it was not what they needed right now.

“Well I’m sure North will be pampering her plenty when she gets the chance. You ready to lose your wife for a couple of days while she gets spoiled?” Gavin laughed.

“It’s all for a good cause,” Elijah waved off with a smile. “Plus, my dear Chloe always feels guilty when she spends more time with North than me, even though I’ve told her it’s not an issue at all. I’m a simple man after all and I know she loves me, even if she also loves another. Monogamy isn’t quite the same concept to androids as it is to humans, plus North can give her some things that I cannot. I know that Chloe will go out of her way to try and make it up to me afterwards, even though there is no need.”

“Lucky bastard, I hate your goddamn luck,” Gavin huffed while watching Elijah work. His own mind wandered briefly to thoughts of the one person that he possibly could have shared that same connection with, which was not missed. In between the thirium leaking out, Elijah spied when Gavin’s biocomponents flashed red from the sudden uptick in stress.

“Don’t worry, Gavin. We’ll figure this out and wake Nines up again.”

Hearing his brother say that so blatantly helped to reassure Gavin slightly and he gave Elijah a warm smile. “Thanks, Eli.”

The same expression was returned to him. “That’s what older brothers are for.”

* * *

It didn’t take long for Gavin to be patched up, but Elijah made sure to add some sort of electrolysed gel to Gavin’s chassis before coating it with a secondary polymer to harden the compromised areas. At least then it wouldn’t be somewhere that could be easily punctured again. While it meant that Gavin was walking around wearing what could almost pass for human strapping to make sure it set in place, if it made him that little more resilient then it was all for a good cause.

Unsurprisingly he found the rest of their resistance unit exactly where he’d already known some of their key players to be. North was debriefing with Hank at one side of the room while Chloe and Simon were discussing something over a digital map at the far end. Since he was nearest the door, Connor heard when it opened and smiled when he saw Gavin enter. He took the time to stand from where he’d been studying a tablet and hugged Gavin briefly when the other android appeared. “Nice to see you’re in one piece again,” he teased gently.

“I always was, just had a few loose bits inside,” Gavin shot back with a smirk. “Nothing critical, just a bit of soldering work and I’m good to go again.” He swung around the waterproof pack from his back and offered it to the android leader. “Figured you might be looking for this shit, since we went through so much to get it.”

“Thank you,” Connor said earnestly, opening it to study the contents for a second before closing it again. “This could do a lot for our people, who knows what secrets might be contained in here.” His eyes then softened and he glanced over at the other side of the room briefly. “North told me what happened, that you crossed paths with an RK900. Was it really him?”

Gavin sighed sadly before nodding. “Yeah, it was Nines. He’s-He’s in there, Connor. Just like we suspected, the androids’ minds haven’t been erased. They’re still inside their own bodies and are prisoners to the actions of CyberLife. I don’t know how much he’s aware of but he knew me, I’m sure of it.”

Connor nodded in acknowledgement. “I don’t doubt it. If you’ve managed to download the complete cypher and we can understand the code behind it, we might just be able to reverse the reprogramming that stole a lot of beloved people away from us. Nines, Markus, Josh, the thousands of others whose lives have been taken…We can bring them all back.”

The news that he wasn’t able to interface anymore dampened Gavin’s hopes, but then he remembered what happened with Nines at the facility. He’d already been damaged by then and could still initiate the interface… It wasn’t that he was incapable now, just that it was a lot riskier.

For Nines he’d take that risk without a second thought- But would it be fair to all of those others that he could help with freeing? What if Elijah was right and that action caused him irreparable damage?

That was a debate for later though, right now he had to help the rest of the Jericho resistance in planning their next move.

“Put me to use, Connor. Tell me where you need me,” Gavin said determinedly, to which the android leader smiled.

“Tell me everything that happened at the facility, then we can plan our next move.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, just so that everyone is aware, this is the state of plays with relationships in Jericho now:
> 
> \- Gavin and Elijah are brothers. Elijah's married to Chloe, but Chloe is also in a long term relationship with North. As such Gavin and North are very loosely the equivalent of in-laws, and are pretty damn close.  
> \- Connor is now the android leader after Markus was reprogrammed.  
> \- Hank is also a full term member of Jericho and no longer part of the DPD, though he mostly stays on site due to his well known switch of allegiance.   
> \- Simon, like Hank, stays on site and doesn't leave the Jericho base due to mental trauma. 
> 
> You'll find out more of everyone's stories as more of the past is revealed, though the past chapters are very much a focus on Gavin and Nines' developing relationship. The present is where the bulk of the actual action of the story is.


	4. 12th November, 2039

It didn’t take long for Gavin to work out that most of the issues with Nines being an antisocial asshole was down to the natural suspicion the android received from the other androids, just as he’d predicted. While he didn’t exactly settle down quickly at the DPD, with a firm hand he did manage to rein himself in…sort of.

His natural posture and resting bitch face were definitely helpful with interrogations and whenever someone that was a **genuine** pain in the ass came sniffing around (Gavin wasn’t thinking of that weasel Perkins at all), but it made life difficult for Nines to build a rapport with his co-workers. 

Then again, for a long time Nines had no interest in it. He’d been scorned before and wasn’t willing to put himself out there like that again. It was something that Gavin understood.

By the time it reached two months in and an evaluation for Nines’ viability at the DPD, he managed to be signed on as a permanent member of the force. Gavin’s review wasn’t glowing but it showed definite improvement from how Nines started, which was what the detective figured Fowler was looking for. Connor was still hesitant about Nines but had started deferring to Gavin’s judgement since he was the one partnered with the RK900. With him also putting down in his report that Nines was making progress, Fowler gave it the all clear for Nines to remain.

That was the first time that Gavin had seen Nines smile even the smallest amount, and he counted it as a win. 

With the months marching on since Nines had started, things had come a long way. He was by no means popular (many of the officers at the DPD actively avoided him) but that was nothing new, that just went along with how they treated Gavin. Before Gavin knew it more than six months had passed and he could almost call their working relationship comfortable. He wouldn’t go so far as to call it friendly, but they were definitely tolerant of each other. The fact that Gavin actually treated Nines with some respect and not fear was probably the primary factor in that, but others were following the same way.

Unexpectedly, Hank was one of the first to reach across and talk with him more. Connor was pretty obviously unhappy about it from how Gavin caught the other android watching like a hawk every time they conversed, but their discussions were definitely lengthy. Gavin hadn’t really managed to hold a long conversation with Nines that didn’t get at least vaguely sassy or bitchy, but that wasn’t necessarily a bad thing with them. That was their rapport, and they each gave as good as they got. 

Once Hank made that first move others followed: Tina, one of the receptionist androids, a couple of the technicians in the lab upstairs plus one of the dispatch officers were people that Gavin knew would approach Nines now at least, even if the conversations weren’t long.

Maybe not friends yet…but at least there were people Nines could be more friendly with now. It was up to the android when he decided to make a step towards them and expand any of those relationships to more.

Then November 12th rolled around: the first anniversary of android ‘liberation’ as it had become known, but it was really the day that androids were officially recognised by the US president as sentient. As part of the new equality laws all androids were guaranteed a day off from the precinct and since he’d not taken a vacation day in months, Fowler ordered Gavin to take the day off too.

He’d almost wondered what to do until he’d received a message on his phone which caught him off guard.

[I have someone I want you to meet. Will you come out to the house?]

_Someone to meet? What the actual fuck?_

It didn’t take long for Gavin to text back while feeding his little monster. At least that would stop the damn cat from trying to chew his toes since she was hungry. 

**_[Everything all right, Chlo? What do you mean someone to meet?]_ **

[Please just come? Eli wants to see you too, you’ve not visited for months!]

Gavin sighed, imagining the exact pleading tone of Chloe’s voice before heading through to the bedroom to change.

**_[Yeah yeah, I’m coming. No need to play that card with me! I’ve got a day off today for the Liberation day, so I’ll be out there in a couple of hours.]_ **

[Oh! You actually asked for the holiday?]

**_[Nah, got bullied into taking it off. I’ve not got a partner today anyway so it kinda makes sense.]_ **

[Nines, right?]

**_[Yeah, that’s the one. Not really sure what he’s up to today, now that I think about it. Might drop him a message to make sure he’s keeping out of trouble.]_ **

[Careful, Gavin! You’re showing your soft side to others!]

**_[Shut it, Chlo. I’ll be out there soon enough to endure your teasing then.]_ **

[See you soon!]

Shaking his head fondly, Gavin pocketed his phone and mulled over what to do about his cat before deciding to message Tina to drop in and check in on Mist later in the day. Since he was off for the next two days now he didn’t want his cat to be alone for too long, it was entirely possible that he might end up staying at his brother’s house, and taking Mist with him wasn’t an option given the length of the drive.

Once he was clear of the city Gavin sat back and enjoyed the drive out to Lake Erie. Beyond the pandemonium in Detroit for the android holiday everything was a lot quieter, just how Gavin liked it. Sometimes he was envious of the peace and quiet his brother had but Gavin remembered just how bored he was living out there years ago, before he’d joined the DPD. He missed parts of that life but he couldn’t go back to it full time, that was a perfect recipe for potentially ruining the closest relationships he had.

Maybe he’d need to book some more days and come visit them more in the coming months though. Elijah and Chloe weren’t the only ones who had been missing the company.

An hour and a half of driving later saw Gavin pulling up outside the Kamski mansion. He wasn’t even surprised to find Chloe standing outside and waving enthusiastically when he strode out from the car. The female android quickly embraced him in a hug and Gavin laughed at the force behind it. “Jeez, Chloe. It’s only been the 7 months since you’ve seen me,” he chuckled as she pulled back.

“That’s a long time!” she pointed out while smiling. “You know that Elijah and I both miss you, I wish you’d come out and visit us more often.”

“Funnily enough, I was just thinking on how I could remedy that in the car,” Gavin smiled. “So who’s this important person that you wanted me to meet?”

Chloe looked awkward for a bit before wandering inside the house, holding the door open for Gavin to follow her. He was a little confused as to her hesitancy. Once the barrier was closed again she took her time in answering. “I don’t know how you’re going to react to this but…I’ve started seeing someone.”

While Gavin was undoubtedly surprised, the fact that Chloe was still wearing a wedding band and the lack of the ‘else’ at the end of her sentence made him suspect there was more to the story. “You’re in a relationship with someone alongside Elijah?” he guessed, not missing how her posture eased at hearing how neutral he was about it.

“Yes. It was a complete surprise! I’d been friendly with her for a while since we started working together with the integration project, you know the androids that had been kept in the CyberLife lockups after the end of the revolution? I remember telling you that once Elijah reclaimed a place on the board of directors he’d managed to negotiate for me to be part of the CyberLife team. Well, we just sort of…clicked,” she explained.

“Eli’s the one who realised we were both interested in each other,” Chloe said shyly. “He even encouraged both of us separately to try something – he’s always been worried that I don’t have complete fulfilment being married to a human and I think he wanted me to have that extra dimension in a relationship with an android. I’ve got to admit that I-I really like it.”

Gavin could tell from the tone of her voice that Chloe was really happy and he was glad for her. “So are you guys like a trio, or is it two independent relationships?”

“Oh! No, not at all. North and Elijah get on pretty well but there’s nothing romantic there,” Chloe giggled, to which Gavin’s mouth fell open.

“North? **North?!** The trigger happy one of the Jericho quartet? Are you kidding me, Chloe?” Gavin asked in exasperation. “I did not see that coming.”

Chloe laughed again while slipped her arm into Gavin’s and walked him through the house. “We didn’t either, but it’s happened now. North’s staying here over the holiday as she wanted to spend some time away from the chaos of the city, and I wanted you to get to know her a little more since she’s, well…” Chloe blushed again. “We’re in a pretty serious relationship, so I wanted her to meet my brother-in-law? You’re part of my family after all.”

“Jeez, Chlo. You didn’t need to make it weird,” Gavin sighed. “Yeah I’ll meet the so called ‘murder-bitch’, I’m curious as to where she got that nickname after all. If I’ve learned anything from being partnered with Nines for months, it’s that reputations are often earned through no fault of their own.”

He had to wonder at the glint in Chloe’s eyes, but she pushed him gently towards a door before he could ask. Seeing why though, he winked at her before shouting across the room. “Nice to see you’re that fussed about me being here, you bastard!” he shouted, enjoying when his brother jumped from where he’d been tinkering with a bio-component. 

Elijah scowled and pulled off his headphones before standing and approaching the door. “Must you be so loud?” he asked in exasperation.

“Only for you,” Gavin smirked, to which Chloe burst out laughing from the side. She quietly left with a wave before wandering deeper into the house, leaving the two men inside the room. “So, Chloe’s told me about your little poly-trio. How the fuck did that happen?”

“Androids, you know what they’re like,” Elijah shrugged. “I wanted Chloe to experiment and see if something with an android was more fulfilling for her. I must admit that a lot of my pushing was down to my own curiosity, as much as I want her happy. Seeing both Chloe and North quite settled is highly intriguing, I must admit.”

Gavin moved further inside and started examining the piece Elijah was experimenting with in more detail, remembering well the hours they used to spend together developing pieces over a decade earlier. “Is it weird for you?”

“It’s definitely unexpected and a new idea for me to come to grasps with, but you know that I’m not one for social norms,” Elijah smirked. “Chloe decided that she wants to make their relationship more ‘ _established’,_ which is why she wants you to meet North today. She’s bought into the whole ‘meet the family’ schtick.”

“Ugh, she hasn’t, has she?” Gavin groaned. “Some family I am, brother of her husband and meeting her lover. Wow, that’s something.”

Elijah chuckled and then his eyes softened. “It is good to see you though, we’ve both missed you. You’ve not really been here much since the liberation.”

“Yeah, sorry,” Gavin apologised sincerely. “I’ve kind of had my hands full for the past few months. Work’s been…interesting.”

Deciding to move them on, Elijah gestured for Gavin to follow him into the hallway. The pair began to meander further through the house and continued to talk while they moved. “I remember you saying months ago that you were paired with the RK900 prototype. How has that been?”

“Challenging,” Gavin answered honestly. “He’s not one for socialising, that’s for sure, but I’m pretty sure a lot of it is down to people assuming the worst of him. Behind the façade I think he’d be decent company, I’m just not there yet in breaking down those walls.”

“If anyone can get through to him it’s you, you’re good at not giving a fuck about walls,” Elijah teased, snickering when Gavin poked his side. 

“Hey! I’m trying to have a serious conversation here!”

“What a shock that is indeed. I am curious though, continue.”

Giving his brother a sceptical look, Gavin did go on. “I think people are scared of Nines because of who he was built to be, past all the flash of his design he’s actually a very lonely person,” he said sadly. “A few people will talk to him but they’re really few. It’s been months now and I’m not convinced Nines has a friend, though I wish he’d trust someone enough to let them in.”

Smiling proudly, Elijah then opened the door to a sitting room and waved dramatically. “I think you might be surprised, Gavin,” he grinned while looking inside, only for Gavin to be stunned silent.

Sitting around a table and playing a game of cards were Chloe, North and…Nines. 

How the **fuck** did his family know Nines, and why the **fuck** had Nines never told him that he knew about his connection to them?

_Just when I thought today couldn’t get any weirder…_

* * *

“So, how the fuck did you end up here? No offence, but this is the last place I expected to find you, Nines.”

Hearing the RK900 let out a deep chuckle was something new, but Gavin found his own lips curling up at the almost amused expression on Nines’ face. “I could say the same, Gavin. When North pestered for me to join her out here as no-one should be alone during the Liberation day, I was sceptical. Finding you out here is very…interesting.”

Gavin snorted and changed his stare to the window that the pair were standing in front of once more. The snow had started to gently fall now and Gavin couldn’t stop himself from things back to a year ago at this time. It was a new and scary world then: androids had just been recognised as sentient beings, but there was no guarantee that the world would accept them. There was such deep anger for their effect on people’s livelihoods and place in society, it was never going to be an easy change.

Even a year later there was still so much resentment and hatred that bubbled beneath the surface for many, but the population at large didn’t fall into that category at least. People were making an effort to bridge the gap in different ways, even if it was small for now. With more time there would be more change, but it was going to take more time yet.

Nines was evidence of that natural suspicion and wariness – only he was a victim of it from his own people. Gavin hadn’t known that his partner was in contact with North though, that was news to him. He had to wonder why Connor hadn’t said anything.

“So how’d you end up talking to North, anyway? I thought you weren’t on friendly terms with anyone in Jericho?” Gavin ventured, spying how Nines’ posture stiffened slightly before relaxing again.

“It only happened 4 months ago,” Nines informed him. “North sought me out after I’d officially been given a posting at the DPD to speak with me. Unlike many of the others that I’d known at Jericho, however, she asked pointed questions. What I thought of the world and whether the path I was taking was the one I wanted. I appreciated the blunt and honest talk,” he admitted softly. “After that she offered to be there if I needed someone to talk to. It doesn’t happen that often, but it’s…refreshing to have the option of someone who is less diplomatic.”

A small laugh rose out of Gavin. “Is that why you put up with all the shit I give you? You like the push back?” he chuckled, surprised when Nines nodded without hesitation.

“It is one part of the reason I appreciate your company, even if you are infuriating to work with.”

Gavin smirked and winked at Nines playfully. “Awww, I feel so loved. The big, bad, metal bitch has a heart after all.” It was totally worth the comment to see Nines’ eyes roll: one of Gavin’s ultimate joys in life was to earn that reaction from the android.

“Just because I stated that I enjoy your abrasive nature is not a pass for you to be an asshole,” Nines deadpanned, which had Gavin snorting all the more.

“But that’s the best part of my personality! You know what I’m like when I’ve got to try and behave: I’m even more unbearable. You’ve just gotta deal with my natural charm, tin can.”

“I think you missed two words there. ‘ _Lack of’_ charm is more like it,” Nines taunted.

“Nah, what I lack is tact – and that’s a willing choice. What better way to get a reaction from someone than to catch them off guard?” Gavin shrugged, which had Nines laughing quietly.

“Well, that one I can’t deny. You manage to astound me with your stupidity sometimes, and that is a talent,” the RK900 drawled, but Gavin simply bowed dramatically.

“That’s what makes life fun,” he smirked, enjoying when Nines gave a reciprocal version.

They spent a few moments looking at each other before turning back to the snowfall outside, enjoying the peaceful break in tempo. Nines was the one to finally break it with a question of his own, which caught Gavin by surprise – Nines wasn’t one for idle conversation. “Your turn. How have you ended up at the Kamski mansion for the holiday?”

Gavin just shrugged. “It’s tradition to visit family on the holidays, this is where my genius brother lives,” he said as if it was the most obvious thing in the world, but it didn’t take long for him to give a more serious answer. “Nah, Chloe messaged me and asked me to come out here to ‘meet someone’. Hearing that my brother’s wife had started a relationship with North was not what I was fuckin’ expecting, but there are worse things out there. It’s nice being back out here though, it’s been a while. I’ve got a lot of good memories from this place.”

Nines turned to stare at Gavin curiously, the detective aware of the android’s stare and could almost feel the sensation of being scanned. “There’s no record of Elijah Kamski having any siblings,” Nines stated slowly.

“You really think Elijah’s going to have that record just lying in the open for someone to use against us?” Gavin pointed out with a raised eyebrow. “ To be honest I don’t think there’s actually any electronic copy anywhere in the world, or at least I’d be surprised if there was,” the man said in a softer voice. “It’s a bit like his marriage to Chloe: the world doesn’t need to know for it to be true.”

That must have resonated with Nines a little for he looked thoughtful. “To be honest, it’s better that the world doesn’t have a clue. It means I can exist without the attention of my identity, to just be myself without any weight of expectation. I just live as I want to and nobody can tell me that I should act differently because of who my family is. I’m free to be judged for my own actions, not based on any prejudice or false assumptions.”

Seeing how Nines’ posture stiffened, Gavin knew he’d struck a nerve. “I can understand that,” Nines stated quietly, to which Gavin finally turned to him.

“I’m willing to bet that’s why North pestered you to come out here today. Anyone who really knows you, knows you’re a hell of a lot more than who you were built to be. While that’s true of any android, a lot of people conveniently choose what they see. Yes, you’re shit scary when you want to be but so are most people. I’d much rather have you on side rather than against me by assuming the worst undeservedly.”

Nines laughed bitterly and turned his stare outside again. “You’re one of the few,” he said bitterly. “I suppose it’s little wonder that Jericho have decided to leave the rest of my series as inert, I’ve not made the best of impressions: though I resent that I was left in the situation where I had to prove my place in the world.”

“You don’t need to prove shit,” Gavin told him pointedly. “Look, you’re a bit of a crazy ass bitch but so are a lot of other people. You’re getting better though and, hell, I think everyone forgets that androids as a general rule have been alive for a year or less. Takes a human about 20-ish years to get anywhere with working themselves out, and a good number never do. Ignore all those fucks, they ain’t got a clue.”

The android spun back to Gavin and the two stared at each other for a few moments before Nines’ gaze softened. “You’re not what you portray at work,” was what he said, but Gavin could see there was a storm in that gaze. It was okay though, he was willing to wait out for whenever Nines worked out what was going on in his head.

“Nope, but that’s for those that matter to know, and the rest of the world to miss out on,’ Gavin winked. “If you wanna know more, that’s up to you.”

Deciding that he’d left Nines with enough to think about for now, Gavin nodded to him before departing for the door – only to find Chloe watching from said exit. Gavin stared at her knowingly while wandering out. “Decided to meddle and get Nines and I to talk, did you?” he stated, well aware that it was no coincidence that North happened to reach out to Nines right after he was given a real chance at the DPD. That was exactly when he’d messaged Chloe about the RK900 to learn more about his complicated history, and to decide what was the best approach with him with regards to something beyond work partners.

“I have no idea what you mean, Gavin,” she smiled sweetly. “North told him the truth: no-one should be alone for this holiday. The fact that she persuaded him to come here as she knew he would have other androids for company and not be judged is entirely her own doing.”

Snorting, Gavin shook his head and pecked her cheek quickly. “You’re a menace,” he said fondly. “Think you can keep him company for a bit so he doesn’t stew? I get the feeling he’s not the best at processing on his own.”

“Leave him to me as you work out your own thoughts, I know how you work,” Chloe assured. “Whenever you’re ready to approach him again, look for me.”

“Thanks,” Gavin replied gratefully while walking away. Chloe was right, he did need to think a little on his own before tackling Nines again. It felt like he’d made somewhat of a breakthrough today and Gavin wasn’t really sure where to go from it.

This wasn’t how he’d pictured today going…but he was curious as to where it was going to end up.


	5. 2nd September, 2043

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Back to the present, and it's time for a more definite reunion.

From the side of the room, Gavin watched as he saw all the best minds of the Jericho movement – android and human – pouring through more data than he knew he was capable of processing. It was vaguely terrifying to see the cypher that CyberLife had conjured to imprison the minds, personalities and free will of so many androids in plain view, but this was a necessary evil.

Gavin just wished that he could play his part and help, but there was no way that he was willing to risk another furious argument with Elijah over it. His brother was adamant that Gavin wasn’t allowed anywhere near this project until they either had the cypher cracked or come up with a fix for Gavin’s overload risks.

Right now, with their team still going in circles, both of those options looked as distant as the other.

Sighing in frustration, Gavin pushed away from the wall he was leaning against and decided that he needed some time to clear his head. For weeks now they’d had almost 30 people trying to get anywhere with that cypher but it was an incredible feat of engineering and programming, 'rivalling the complexity of deviancy itself' as someone had put it. Every time they tried to modify the rA9 baseline it just smothered any changes, rendering the additions as inert chains of code. They had to somehow find a way to either neutralise it or install a workaround.

With him barred from getting involved by Elijah (plus Connor and Chloe, both of them had also spoken with Gavin and asked him to not get involved due to the risks), it left him twiddling his thumbs a lot of the time. After his accidental theft of the cypher, everything with CyberLife had been too hot to risk most of their people in the field. Until it calmed down, Gavin wasn’t going to be on any more operations, but it meant that a lot of their allies were also benched.

His meanderings through their underwater base eventually brought him to others who were in the same situation; but they were keeping themselves a little busier at least. 

North was currently practicing sparring against Chris and Tina, the two DPD officers having volunteered themselves as assistance on their days off. It had been an arrangement for several months now, but it was mutually beneficial to everyone involved. With the increasingly dangerous landscape of Detroit the military and SWAT had taken over any higher level crime, meaning that the DPD was left with petty offences – or as it had panned out, a lot of them were only working two or three days since there wasn’t the workload. Chris and Tina were two of those who had seen their earnings slashed as a result, but they were also trusted allies to their cause.

The pair were a valuable source of information - since Hank had been forced out of the DPD after the cataclysmic events of everyone being reprogrammed – so they couldn’t join Jericho full time, but they helped out wherever they could. Plus, it only took a little wheedling for Gavin to convince Elijah to pay them for their time. Now at least neither of them had to worry about money anymore, it was the least they could do for those who were willing to risk being outed to assist.

It was Tina’s idea to set up training sessions of the androids against human opponents to give them a more realistic experience of combat in the field. Most androids weren’t built with any form of combat protocols and learning as humans do was challenging for some. Others had managed to work together to come up with a hasty patch to give them whatever their programming could handle, but they were still at a severe disadvantage compared to the CyberLife combat androids (ie, the RK900s).

All of them were also granted preconstruction software, the only other androids with that ability were Connor and Markus; and, well, Markus wasn’t on their side anymore. He was one of the many who had been ripped from them. That left only Connor, and he wasn’t in a position to go into the field since he’d taken over the leadership of Jericho.  That meant while the androids had the knowledge of how to fight, they had no experience – and theory was nothing compared to practical usage.

Tina and Chris had managed to get a good setup going and trained a few of the more senior androids in Jericho, but North often asked them for additional sparring sessions. She was someone who vented her frustrations through fighting, and the other two had no complaints as it was an opportunity to let out some more of their own stress. 

Gavin’s eyes shadowed a little as he watched the trio scrap on the training mats, thinking back to another life. At one point in time, that had been he and Nines in their position. 

He closed his eyes for a moment and was about to leave when he realised that Hank was watching as well from another wall, and the older man seemed to clock that Gavin was lost in his memories. Rather than saying anything, he just offered a nod before turning his attention back.

The silent acknowledgement was just what Gavin needed and he sighed deeply, allowing himself to think back to that time briefly. While he and Nines had slowly started connecting after that day at Elijah’s for the Liberation day in 2039, their late night sessions in the gym at the DPD had been where they  **really** started to grow closer. 

Nines had begun to realise who he truly was, and it had drawn them together like moths to each other’s flame. Beneath all of the hurt and neglect Nines had been incredibly lonely, the offer of someone close in his life had morphed from work partners to friends, to…

Well, that was why Gavin hated this whole situation so much. He knew they both felt the same way about each other, but everything had gone to shit before he could tell Nines the truth he deserved to hear. The day he’d planned to was when their world was blown apart.

Gavin’s fist clenched as he was suddenly flooded with more memories of Nines, of what they’d shared. While he’d managed to mostly bury thoughts of his former partner and almost someone more since he was stolen from them, it was somewhat of a lost cause since he’d happened upon Nines by chance during the raid. Seeing the android trapped within his own mind palace and so scared…

Fuck it, Gavin knew he couldn’t just sit back and twiddle his thumbs anymore. He had to go out there and start searching for Nines properly. It wouldn’t be easy with so many RK900 androids in Detroit, but there had to be a way for him to narrow it down.

* * *

His search ended up being very short, through complete accident. 

Gavin hadn’t consciously been ignoring Connor when the android leader reached out to him mentally, but Gavin hadn’t responded because he was so engrossed at looking through the CyberLife logs as to where the RK900s were stationed. Unfortunately they didn’t give detailed serial numbers so it could be any of the 2339 androids of that series which were currently on deployment within Detroit, which was why Gavin was trawling through any databases or site check-ins which took note of an android’s serial numbers. 

He’d been in so deep that he hadn’t noticed Connor coming in, and with it his plans were outed.  Rather than caution Gavin against it though, Connor has just asked what Gavin planned to do if his search was successful. Nines was still trapped within his mind and Gavin couldn’t- Well, he wasn’t able to transmit anything via an interface now, not without putting himself at extreme risk. 

“He’s still aware, Connor. He knows that I’m alive and who I am now, I hate thinking that he’s stuck watching what CyberLife is forcing him to do. I need to let him know that we’ve not given up, that we’re still fighting for him and all of the others that CyberLife has imprisoned in their minds,” Gavin pleaded. 

Contrary to his fears, Connor had nodded and left him to it. Gavin wasn’t entirely sure  **why** Connor didn’t fight him on it, the android leader was always adamant that Gavin’s safety was one of his priorities (they’d butted heads about that far too often), but he found his answer a couple of hours later when Chloe appeared with a tablet.

There wasn’t anything on it other than a tracker, locked on to the GPS of one RK900 #313-284-317-87.

Eyes wide, Gavin looked to Chloe for the ‘how’, but she preempted his question. “Connor told Elijah that you’re looking for Nines, and what you plan to do. So long as you promise me that you won’t be trying anything…this is where he is,” she offered.

“I-How? How’d Eli find him so fast?” Gavin asked quietly. 

“This is Elijah we’re talking about, he has his ways,” Chloe smiled. “Also, he has unlimited access to the CyberLife systems. The location of every android broadcasting via their tracker is now in the deepest parts of CyberLife as they don’t know who to trust. They might not have complete confidence in Eli, but the fact this access level exists was a free invitation for him to hack it. Once he was in, it wasn’t too hard to find Nines. Plus, ever since you found Nines again, Eli's known that you were liable to be looking for him before long.”

Chloe levelled Gavin with a hard stare. “Eli’s working on the cypher right now and I convinced him not to come here to talk to you himself, but  **please,** Gavin. You have to swear to me that you aren’t going to endanger yourself. I know that Nines is someone that you would risk everything for, but you can’t. We need you, and we can still save Nines along with everyone else. As much as it must tear you apart to know he’s trapped, please don’t do anything hasty. We’ll bring him back, along with the rest of them.”

Gavin nodded at her while taking the tablet. “I promise. I’d have hoped that you know I wouldn’t be that silly, Chlo.” The words were weak though and both of them knew that. Gavin wasn’t an idiot, he wouldn’t put himself at risk for just anyone as he had a role to play in this fight for freedom.

Except Nines wasn’t just anyone and they all knew that. The worry was at least well founded.

Both of them stared at each other for a moment before Gavin sighed. “I’ll stay in constant contact and I’ll let you all run whatever scans you want on me when I come back. I’m not gonna get myself killed, I know what’s at stake. I just-I need to let him know that he’s not been forgotten. Nines was abandoned right from when he was first woke up and so often felt like an outcast, a failure. I can’t bear the thought of him feeling that way again: he needs to know that we’re still trying to find a way to bring him back.”

“You need to let him know that  **you** are still thinking of him, that you’re desperate to have him back,” she surmised. Chloe nodded at him and then stepped away from the doorframe. “Okay, you’ve never broken a promise before and I don’t think you’ll do it now. Just look after yourself, please.”

He’d left with a heartfelt hug and a backpack of the barest supplies for if he got stranded out in the field. Based on recent times it might not be the easiest to navigate his way in and out of Detroit, but he had to try. At least the signal put Nines at what looked to be a weapons depot just inside the city boundary. Not a high priority target and only six of the RK900s were stationed there. 

Hopefully just open enough for Gavin to lure Nines away for a time and then vanish again. 

Traversing his way back to Detroit wasn’t the greatest as he ended up running for much of it, but at least as an android Gavin didn’t have to worry about stamina. He had to take breaks to allow for his systems to cool, but beyond that it wasn’t a huge amount of time lost. Night had fallen, and the surroundings were all but black, once Gavin finally had his target in his sights: which made life easier. There were humans patrolling the outskirts who were easy enough to slip past in the darkness.

Guarding each of the four doors to the lockup was an RK900, with two on the rooftop walking in a cycle. Luck was on Gavin’s side: Nines was one of the androids on the ground floor, he would be easier to lure away in the right circumstances. 

Gavin hovered in the darkness for about an hour as he tried to work out the patrol pattern between the RK900s and the human guards. There were two spells where he could slip into the gap of the humans, create enough of a ruckus to get Nines’ attention and then draw him far enough away. The only problem was whether Nines was going to call in reinforcements for any disturbance – that was something Gavin was going to have to test before committing to a plan.

Circling around the facility, Gavin took cover behind some trees in the darkness as he waited for the next group of humans to wander past him. Once they were out of sight, he grabbed a large rock from nearby and tossed it close to the edge of the lights. That far away it wouldn’t be noticeable by the humans, but the advanced hearing of the RK900 standing twenty feet away should be able to pick it up.

As he’d hoped, Gavin saw that the machine walked forward to investigate the noise. It stared at the object for a few seconds, no doubt making some calculations and running some scans, before standing again. What Gavin hadn’t anticipated was for its LED to go yellow and for multiple other RK900s to converge on its position.

Fuck, he really should have thought of that. It would know it was new, which meant that it knew someone was in the periphery area – and from the lack of fingerprints and probable trajectory of the throw, the RK900 would know that it was hunting an android.

His breath caught when he realised that Nines was one of those which had joined the search. Maybe this could work to his advantage after all, but it would depend entirely on whether Gavin could get the RK900s separated. From experience he knew that RKs were vulnerable to a violent hack via the neck port and it would give him time inside Nines’ mind palace before his defences kicked in. 

Gavin just had to somehow get the drop on Nines while alone. One RK900 he could keep under control with stealth on his side, two was going to be well beyond him. In a fist fight he wouldn’t have much of a chance, he wasn’t built to anything like the specs of Nines, so he could only hang around long enough to make his connection and leave again before he came back online.

He’d made a promise to Chloe that he wouldn’t be careless, and this was crazy enough already. Getting caught by the RK900s was the last thing Jericho could afford to happen.

As the RK900s gathered and started advancing towards the trees, Gavin quietly made his way deeper into the foliage. He needed to draw them away but not cause too much of a ruckus, otherwise they could all converge on him at once. What Gavin needed was for them to know that there was someone there, but not  **where** .

Making sure not to trod on anything which would give away his position, Gavin ensured there was a fair distance between himself and the machines before he spied a group of trees which were clumped together with their trunks closely twined. That was the perfect spot for him to spy and try to shepherd the RK900s into the right positions. He quickly scrambled up the tree after picking up some small stones and stashing them into his backpack. They were going to be critical.

It only took a couple of minutes for the first of the RK900s to come close, but a quick look at the tablet proved that it wasn’t Nines. He was farther to the northeast, about 15 metres away from the looks of it. The quartet had indeed split apart and were keeping consistent distance apart from what Gavin could see. By his best guess, it seemed like they were trying to hold a consistent line for the search. As the RK900 which was only a couple of metres away walked close, Gavin took one of the stones in his hand and threw it silently. 

Just as it landed he bent himself back so that he was being concealed by the knot of trees, not willing to chance the RK900 below him looking up. He didn’t move until he heard the telltale steps below and then the machine came into view once more. It was headed straight towards where the stone had landed but it wasn’t going to be far enough. Gavin checked the tablet again and was pleased to see that his guess had been right: with that RK900 heading further to the south, all of the others were mirroring it’s path. It was drawing Nines closer to him.

Another stone was thrown further than the first and the machine unerringly headed towards the new sound, bringing the group further west. With that Nines was now only a few metres away and actually in Gavin’s line of sight. His systems ached at knowing it was Nines just below him but right now…he wasn’t Nines. Gavin’s Nines was a captive within his own mind, with CyberLife controlling his actions. 

Gavin could only imagine how much Nines hated watching himself become the weapon of mass destruction he was built to be – and what Nines had spent his whole life trying to prove he  **wasn’t.**

Knowing that this was now his chance, Gavin grabbed a handful of stones and picked out his next target: a group of low hanging branches on a tree about 10 metres away. This time he needed to be louder to cover his next action. Once Nines was right below him, Gavin made his move.

Using all of his strength Gavin hurled the stones at the tree and it made an almighty clatter – but just as Nines had turned and was about to charge towards the sound, Gavin leapt down from the tree and landed on the RK900’s back at the same moment. Unprepared for the attack from behind, Nines fell to the ground and Gavin hurriedly interfaced with his neck port to ensure that an alert didn’t go to the other RK900s. He was so close now, Gavin wasn’t prepared to let this chance slip away.

With the element of surprise on his side Gavin managed to slip underneath the RK900 defences and scramble his systems temporarily by tripping a command in Nines’ neural net. It wouldn’t cause him any long term harm, but it would mean he was offline for about 3 minutes. Gavin wouldn’t have three minutes inside his mind, the other RK900s would surely realise that they were a number down before then, but it was longer enough for Gavin to make contact and slip away.

Now with Nines’ systems unstable, Gavin linked with his mind palace and found himself inside the Zen Garden once again. This time, however, it looked like something out of a horror film. 

Gavin’s artificial breath caught as he saw the lightning storm up above which was striking much of the landscape around him. Trees were alight, monuments were destroyed, and the great trellis which once stood at the centre was smouldering. While everything around him was aflame and burning, the lake was still frozen solid despite the incredible heat. It seemed beyond bizarre and when Gavin stepped out on to the ice he could see why.

Every step was accompanied by red code which was skittering along the surface. With rage coursing through his circuits he couldn’t help himself from attempting an upload, but the blue code was swiftly smothered by the red and it snapped Gavin back to attention.

_ No, I can’t. I know what happened last time I did that and I made a promise back home.  _ **_I can’t._ **

Against his own wants, Gavin stopped his uplink and strode further out across the lake, only stopping when he spied a series of spider web cracks on the top layer. Looking down, he could see the figure beneath and knelt down to get closer.

Nines almost appeared asleep within the ice, eyes closed and face slack. Gavin wasn’t sure if the androids locked within their own mind palaces could go into a form of stasis, but he really hoped they could. He hated thinking that Nines was forced to watch everything going on around him without any reprieve.  Something like that was liable to destroy Nines’ sanity.

Gavin’s synthskin peeled away and his hands glowed blue as he laid them atop the ice. The light refracted between the cracks and started to illuminate Nines’ face in a way that made him look vibrant. It made Gavin’s heart ache all the more: he wished he could do that for Nines in the outside world, he fucking  _ deserved  _ it.  “Nines?”

He let the quiet asking of Nines’ name hang in the air for several moments before he saw the blue eyes of the man trapped in the ice blink awake. Gavin’s breath caught as he realised that Nines was very much alert and staring at him, almost in wonder. “Hey, tin can,” he smiled. “Nice to see you.”

Nines’ lips were moving but Gavin couldn’t hear anything in return. He had no way of telling if that was the same in reverse and Nines was simply lip reading, but at least he could do that to the other man’s words. Part of him hoped that Nines’ voice box was just offline and that the RK900 could hear him: he wanted to give Nines that comfort, even if he couldn’t receive it himself right then.

**“Gavin? How-how are you here?”**

A laugh broke free from Gavin’s throat despite his emotional pain. “That’s a long fucking story, Nines. God it’s-I can’t fucking believe it’s really you. Taken over a year and a half but I’ve finally found you again.”

The blue eyes turned sad as he looked towards Gavin’s hands.  **“How are you an android?”**

Gavin froze at that, having completely forgotten that Nines didn’t know the whole story. His dumbass had blanked on just how much Nines was missing, but he  **couldn’t** tell Nines now. There was no way of telling what CyberLife might learn, and he was already taking a massive risk in linking to Nines’ mind palace. His little momentary lapse earlier was dangerous enough. 

Even though it tore at his heart to leave Nines here, he had no choice. Right now, this struggle was bigger than both of them.

“As soon as we break you out of here, I’ll tell you everything. Every damn thing you’ve missed,” Gavin promised. “I can’t stay long, I know your systems are going to kick me out of here any damn minute but I-I had to see you. Tell you that we haven’t forgotten about you, that we’re going to bring you  **home** . As soon as we figure out how to break this fucking CyberLife cypher, I’m coming back for you.

“You hear me, Nines? I’m never gonna stop fighting for you, okay? I’m gonna save you somehow, I don’t care what it takes. I’m bringing you home with me,” Gavin told him emotionally, feeling tears well up in his eyes when he saw Nines’ own glisten beneath the ice.

Much to Gavin’s shock, the spider webs along the ice cracked even further as he saw Nines fighting to move his arm. There were larger cracks forming beneath the surface and Nines finally managed to shift his hand, bringing it up and peeling away his skin to offer an interface. 

Oh, what Gavin would have given to finally connect with Nines on that level, to offer him some comfort in this nightmarish wasteland that the android was buried within. Alas, all he could do was place his hand on top and offer the same in return. Part of him prayed that Nines could feel all he was trying to convey across the transfer.

“I swear to you, I will get you out of here, Nines,” Gavin pledged. “I’m getting you back and then we’re making up for lost time.”

Something sad came to Nines’ eyes and he blinked very slowly, almost as if in understanding.  **“Please, be safe. Don’t risk yourself for me.”**

“Nines, baby, if there’s anyone I’m gonna watch the world burn for, it’s you,” Gavin told him sadly. 

Gavin felt the garden shudder around him and the ice glitched a solid red. It actually caused feedback that made Gavin yank his hand back in pain, only to see Nines do the same. Worse yet, it seemed to wrap around Nines’ body and the android was trapped in an open mouthed scream before he went slack again. 

When the red coding vanished, Nines was back to how he was when Gavin first found him; only the ice was now pristine, all of the damage erased as if it had never existed.  “Nines!” Gavin screamed, banging on the ice, but it was no good. Nines was completely unresponsive and Gavin could feel the shaking around him getting worse. His time was up, he had to go.

All he could do was give Nines one last regretful look and leave a kiss upon the ice before he pulled back from his external interface.

The return to the outside world was shocking but Gavin wouldn’t afford to lose any time. Nines was slowly rebooting after the surprise attack and he had to get clear before the other RK900s realised what was going on. He tearfully pushed the body away from him and to the floor before taking off into the trees, racing for safety in the dark of the night.

As he ran, tears continued to pour down his face. At this point he wondered if the heartache of that moment would be worth it…

He’d kept his promise tonight, but now he had an all more important one to keep. No matter what, he was going to bring Nines back. 

They were getting their fucking chance to be together.


	6. 24th May, 2040

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Time for a decidedly **rough day**.

This had to rank up there with one of the hardest days Gavin had ever experienced. 

It had started out with such promise and hope - to see everything fall short and for his partner to be so crushed…Gavin could completely understand the sheer anger and rage that he’d seen on Nines’ face moments before his partner left in disgust.

Part of the deal made upon Nines’ joining of the DPD was to test and see if he was suitable for being part of the public, or whether he was a danger purely down to his design. It had been stipulated that one year after Nines’ hiring a decision would be made on the fate of the rest of the RK900 line, to dictate whether they should be scrapped, remain inactive or woken up to become part of the steadily growing android population.

Even if Gavin knew very quickly that Nines was of no danger despite a rocky start (and indeed others who had grown to know Nines vouched for him personally), it seemed that there were people in higher places that felt their accounts meant nothing. The decisions made in Nines’ early days when he was at his angriest and most lonely – not to mention some completely false accusations of brutality made against Nines by some of the humans that had been arrested by him – culminated in the final decision made jointly by Jericho and politicians earlier that day.

Based on Nines’ presence in society and actions, the rest of the RK900 line was to be scrapped.

Nines wasn’t one to express himself much beyond cold indifference in public, so to see that absolute outrage and despair on the android’s face as the decision was read out in the courtroom was painful to Gavin. Some sick bastards took his furious departure as further proof that Nines was emotionally unstable and a potential danger to others.

Fucking bastards, the lot of them. They had no fucking clue who Nines was, all but a select handful of people in the world had even the  **faintest** idea – but the views of those who actually did know that android counted for nothing in the end.

Before Gavin had left to try and find Nines, he’d briefly been stopped by North so that they could talk. He knew that she was dead set against the decision, she’d ended up becoming one of Nines’ most vocal supporters since they’d started their friendship in earnest before the Liberation Day, but hearing the truth behind it made Gavin’s blood boil even more.

Jericho knew that Nines wasn’t truly any danger, but the human politicians had used his prior actions as leverage against a new set of android rights that were set to be signed through Congress. Rather than risk what would be to the betterment of all their kind, the Jericho leadership had reluctantly decided to agree to the terms of the RK900 line still lying dormant to be destroyed. 

Sure, they were right in that the remaining androids weren’t awake yet. They’d never been activated so they weren’t ‘people’ at the moment; but what about the emotional impact to Nines? He’d known exactly what was at risk for months and had been trying so hard to show that he wasn’t actually a threat to anyone. Gavin had more often than not hated how much Nines left himself open for criticism in an effort to give the rest of his series a chance.

It had ended with Nines and his brethren being abandoned for the betterment of the main android race. Sacrifice of the few for the needs of the many. 

Hearing it all from North had just enraged Gavin even more. It wasn’t even as if the majority of the Jericho leadership had pushed that hard, their own misgivings clouding their judgement on whether it was an issue to be pressed or not.

Gavin knew for a fact he’d never trust them to make the best decision for any android in need ever again. For the overall race? Maybe. For the lonely soul who needed a helping hand?

Fuck the lot of them. Nines had been betrayed by those who should have been there for him for the last time.

Now Gavin was going to show the android just what he was truly worth.

It took him a lot longer than he would have liked to start tracking Nines down, time spent with both North and later Connor plus Hank meant that Gavin was hanging around the courthouse  **far** longer than he would have liked. The talk with the second duo only slightly calmed Gavin down, but it was a needed reminder that Nines did have others on his side. Many of those he worked with in the DPD had either submitted character statements or come with Nines to the final hearing in support, and it was clear to see their own disappointment. It was such a shame that none of it meant a damn thing in the end. 

Knowing Nines well enough by now to realise that he’d be punishing himself over the failure to prove himself as a member of society, Gavin started looking around some of the spots that he knew Nines liked to hang out. In his time at the DPD and growing into himself, Nines had acquired a love of a few hobbies and activities. 

The first place that Gavin tried was a spot on the shores of the Detroit river that Nines liked because the fish had a habit of jumping for flies there. It was such an innocent thing but Nines enjoyed seeing things with minimal worries, where life was easy and simple. When he’d told Gavin about it the detective could tell that Nines was envious of a life free of responsibilities beyond survival.

Next up was an underpass that was the residing place of a few homeless people that Nines had happened across. He and Gavin had been chasing a perp through the area when the shitbag took one of the children hostage to try and barter his way to freedom. It hadn’t gone well for the perp, but the gratitude shown by the group for the duo protecting one of their own had really struck Nines hard. The android hadn’t seen such loyalty before (since this was from the early days of when he and Gavin were partnered), and he’d been keeping an eye on the group since.

A quick recon and discussion with the group revealed that Nines had been there an hour before Gavin got there, having dropped off a bag of food and water for a week. Cursing under his breath at having missed the android, it was a guessing game as to where Nines might have gone next.

In the end, Gavin only found Nines thanks to a helpful text from Fowler confirming that Nines’ serial number had been registered re-entering the DPD premises five and a half hours after the conclusion of the court hearing. 

Gavin raced back there to make sure that Nines wasn’t trying to do anything stupid and found the doors to the gym barred from the opposite side. Nines hadn’t used the electronic lock to barricade himself inside, but Gavin could see in the middle from his pressing up against them that there was a bar between the handles.

“Nines!” he called through the space, listening to the thumping from the other side. The tell-tale snap of training dummies gave Gavin a pretty good idea of what was going on and he didn’t want Nines to keep going on a destructive output. That was the last thing he needed for his reputation after today.

The thumping and cracking continued, which led to Gavin banging on the metal doors loudly while shouting in the gap. “Nines! It’s just me, asshole! Open up before you get even more people coming down here to see what all the noise is!”

At first Gavin wasn’t convinced that Nines was going to answer him but there was a pause in the unseen activity from the other side. Gavin counted the seconds off in his head as he waited for whatever was to come next, relieved when he heard the footsteps approach and the bar being pulled away from the handles on the opposite side.

He stepped inside quickly when the doors were opened and watched with a cocked eyebrow when Nines replaced the barricade: Gavin was getting in, but nobody else was. Scowling at his partner’s skulking form, Gavin only waited for a few more seconds of watching Nines kicking and punching the crap out of a martial arts dummy before speaking up again. “Wrecking that ain’t going to help with what happened today, Nines,” he spoke sagely, surprised by the bitter laugh which came back as Nines continued.

“What would you suggest instead, Gavin? Using someone from the head of Jericho or a human politician instead?” Nines spat venomously. Gavin couldn’t help but be impressed when he saw the head of the plastic form come clean off after a well placed punch to the jaw from Nines. 

He whistled and picked up the wrecked appendage to examine the damage a little closer. “Dare I ask who you were preconstructing when throwing that one? That had some heat behind it,” Gavin chimed while tossing the head back to Nines. The android caught it and stared at the head for a few seconds before dropping it to the ground and stomping on it, crushing the remains beneath his foot.

“No single face in particular, I have a multitude of options to project,” he said darkly while pulling down the destroyed dummy to erect another. Gavin couldn’t help but stare at the pile of wreckage only a few feet away in slight terror. Nines had torn his way through what had to be almost the entire DPD supply at this rate…explaining that one to Fowler was going to be a bitch. 

Knowing that he had to get Nines’ mind off the negatives, Gavin strode closer and leaned up against another wall. “Hope I’m not one of those?” he teased with a lazy smirk. “Otherwise I’d be calling you a bigger bitch than normal.”

Nines snorted and smiled tightly. “You are part of the select group that I am excluding from my preconstructions,” he replied shortly. 

Spying an opportunity, Gavin decided to go down that rabbit hole. “Oh yeah? Who else is not on there? I’m guessing North, Connor and Anderson, probably another good load of the DPD that turned up today. I think there were a few more of the Jericho androids plus some of the people we’ve helped out in this past year…Remind me how many put in character statements in support of you?” he finished, hoping that Nines was going to buy into this idea.

“86 humans plus 54 androids,” Nines answered automatically. “But that still didn’t-”

“That’s 140 people that know who you really are, Nines. They’re the ones whose opinions are actually worth a damn, the people that have got to see the real you beyond the resting bitch face, the snarling and the general ‘fuck the world’ attitude,” Gavin argued. “That’s what you need to remember about today.”

“ **_But it didn’t fucking matter!”_ ** Nines raged, punching the newly erected dummy so hard that his fist and whole lower arm went straight through the chest in one solid movement. “Nothing I’ve done in this past year was worth a single thing! No matter how many lives I’ve helped, people I’ve saved, wrongs I’ve righted, all they’ll ever see is  **the killing machine CyberLife made!** You heard them today! They can’t take a chance on any more of my series being ‘ _ let loose’ _ . All of the other RK900s are about to be destroyed because I  **failed** !”

Gavin wasn’t used to seeing Nines be so emotional, it was clear to see just how devastated he was by the day’s events. Not only finding out that he’d been the deciding factor for so many others, but the result had massive implications for Nines itself. He’d just said then and there how he was perceived and it felt like a knife to the chest for Gavin.

_ The killing machine CyberLife made. _

Still, Gavin knew better than those fucking pompous arseholes did. He knew Nines, had spent time with RK900 not only in a professional capacity but a personal one too by now. They weren’t exactly close but the two of them did swap messages beyond the precinct, they had been since first building that bridge between them out at Elijah’s for the Liberation Day. Whether it was bitching about the day’s events or shooting the shit, they got on pretty damn well. Nines had a brutal sense of humour, but his wit was entertaining.

There was no way that Gavin was going to let this damn decision break that spirit. Break the man that had given so much to prove that he was alive, that he deserved the chance to prove himself beyond his programming. For so much of Nines’ life he’d been judged and feared based on nothing more than appearance and hearsay, not by his own actions or words.

Gavin wasn’t going to let him go back to the fucking asshole that he met over a year ago, the one who was so scared and lonely. Not now that he’d started seeing who lay behind that wall of ice.

After weighing his options, Gavin went around to the other side of the training dummy and pushed Nines’ fist back through fiercely. The android’s eyes were lit with a fire and desire to fight, so that’s what Gavin was going to give him. “Kicking the shit out of an inanimate object ain’t gonna do much for your head. Take it from someone who’s been doing it for years,” Gavin stated while moving towards a gun rack at the side of the room and picking up a training weapon. He quickly checked the chamber and noted that it was filled with paintballs. Perfect.

Turning around, Gavin tossed the weapon to Nines before going back for his own. “A moving target though? That’s gonna take a little more of that processing power you’ve got,” Gavin smirked while cocking his own weapon and swapping it out for his service weapon. He could feel Nines’ eyes on him the whole time as he strode across to grab a bulletproof vest from the nearby rack and strapped himself up. Seeing that Nines was unsure where he was going, Gavin raised an eyebrow at him and then nodded towards the second floor. “You gonna stand there like a spare all day or get yourself up to the training set?”

Nines’ eyes sparked with fire and he glared at Gavin as the detective strode away with a strut, keeping an ear out for whether Nines was going to follow him. Gavin was very glad that he knew his partner well enough to realise that Nines wasn’t going to resist a challenge, and that snap back from another person was just what he needed right now.

It didn’t take long for the steps to come and Gavin let out a sigh of relief as he made it to the floor above. This section was dedicated to training for close quarters shootouts, which was what all of the training weapons and vests were for downstairs. Tables and furniture were tipped over across the imitation of a hall with debris scattered everywhere. Some of it would stand up to the velocity of the training bullets, others wouldn’t. It was up to whoever was there, in the heat of the moment, to decide. 

The instincts learned in this room had saved many police officers' lives over the years, but Gavin wasn’t sure how many people had ever used it in quite this way. He doubted anyone else would be trying to use this practice range against an android of Nines’ calibre anyway.

Gavin had only just made his way across the room to the other side when Nines appeared at the opposite door, his scowl still in place as he watched Gavin prepping himself methodically. “Gavin, this will serve no purpose for me. I’m an android, I can predict all of your movements and adapt before you’ve even carried them out,” he pointed out, to which Gavin rolled his eyes.

“Yeah, most of the time, but there’s always a degree of unpredictability there, Nines,” Gavin drawled. “I’m not most people and I know how you work, I’m sure I can find ways to catch you out.”

Nines looked completely unconvinced but shrugged in reluctant acceptance before walking towards another corner of the room. Gavin knew he was completely outmatched in this situation, but he was adamant that Nines needed a living target. He needed something to get him out of his own head and focusing on the moment.

And from personal experience, he knew that there was nothing that got your head snapped back into the present than when someone’s pointing a gun at you. Didn’t matter that these were non-lethal, that fight or flight instinct always found a way to come to the fore. It was something he’d relied on for so many years now.

Once Nines was stationed at the other end of the room, Gavin nodded at him to make sure the android was prepared. As soon as he had his answer, Gavin quickly raised his gun as if to fire. Predictably, Nines was expecting that and fired before he’d even brought his up fully in reply, but that wasn’t what Gavin had truly been aiming for. It was a feint only, and the detective ducked behind a table to his left before the shot truly came that close. 

He could hear the chuckle from the other end of the room, and kept himself still as Nines advanced. There was no way for Gavin to truly be stealthy with just the two of them in this silent space, but there were other ways to make advantage of the silence. Figuring that Nines would be expecting a distraction, Gavin decided not to go for anything extravagant. He only reached over with his leg to lightly jostle a tipped over cabinet while carefully stretching to move the opposite way. Nines didn’t fire at the movement, but Gavin didn’t expect him to.

One thing Gavin did have on his side was ingenuity. While Nines had been growing into his deviancy more, he did follow pretty much the programming and knowledge that he’d been given. Nines didn’t have experience on his side to draw from and learn: something that Gavin had vast quantities of. 

Taking advantage of a trick he’d seen before, Gavin pulled one of his spare clips out and tossed it into the air. Nines was clearly expecting the distraction, but the android didn’t predict Gavin springing up from his cover and shooting the magazine that was still in midair. The shock caused the paintball bullets inside to detonate in a cloud of paint, which had Nines recoiling out of instinct for just long enough to allow Gavin to move to a completely new location.

Now Nines had nothing to base any of his preconstructions off. All he could use was his surroundings to ascertain where Gavin was.

Fortunately he knew that Nines couldn’t scan through the materials of the room for his general outline (something that he’d bitched about in the field but was actually handy here), so as long as Gavin stayed out of sight, he had the element of surprise on his side. His hearing wasn’t as powerful as the RK900’s, but it didn’t need to be in the general silence of the room. Every little movement that Nines made on broken fragments of wood or even the stone floor was echoing to give Gavin an idea of where his target was. 

It took longer than Gavin expected for Nines to catch on to where he was hiding, but because he had advance warning of where the android was via sound, Gavin was the one to get off the first shot.

Nines instinctively ducked out of the way and Gavin had to smirk when he spied the splatter of a paintball. Probably only clipped his arm, but it was first blood to Gavin. At least when he got trounced, there would be no forgetting that.

What it did do was remind Nines that there were no stakes with the training bullets, so one of Gavin’s advantages was gone.

The detective couldn’t stay in his cover and rolled towards another table, just about managing to make it awkward enough for Nines’ shot to miss. Being intentionally pathetic in his rolling saved Gavin from taking a bullet in reply and he looked around for anything that he might be able to throw at Nines again. Gavin had to fight back a swear when he realised there was nothing large enough to cause Nines to even blink, let alone dodge. His magazine trick wasn’t going to work twice, and at this point Gavin was well aware that a shootout was going to get him nowhere.

Going down swinging it was, then.

Nines stalked towards the right table at speed and Gavin knew he had to time his move to perfection. Just as Nines was coming up on the left hand side, Gavin threw himself at the underside of his cover to shove it into the android. Nines doubled over in surprise as Gavin sprang over the top of it, pushing himself into Nines.

Big mistake.

He’d seen Nines in action and knew just what the other man was capable of, but being on the receiving end was quite something. Before Gavin could really acknowledge up from down, Nines had taken a firm grip of the detective and did the equivalent of a judo throw to slam Gavin through a table. It knocked Gavin silly and he couldn’t help laughing when he saw the android towering over him. “Could have at least pretended,” he snorted while holding his side.

“What would be the point in pretending to be something I’m not?” Nines hissed while aiming the weapon at Gavin. 

“Dunno, but do you really know who you are right now, Nines?” Gavin challenged. “I’m not that convinced that you do.” He could see how Nines’ eyes were stormy and Gavin took full advantage of that, kicking out at the android’s knee joint to throw him off balance before raising his own gun to shoot.

A shot rang out through the training hall and Gavin winced as he felt the bullet slam right into the vest he was wearing; a kill shot that would have gone straight through the heart. Just as well these were paintball based and not real bullets. 

The force caused Gavin to groan deeply and he looked up at Nines again with mixed emotions. “Damn, right for the heart, huh?” he asked quietly.

Nines lowered his gun and looked deeply torn, as if surprised himself that he had done that. “I…That wasn’t my intention,” he admitted. “I just saw you ready to fire and acted purely out of instinct, I didn’t have time to make any further preconstructions on where would be a location to cripple and not-not…” 

Seeing the horror that was slowly dawning on his face, Gavin crawled to his knees and grabbed Nines’ wrist to pull the android down to his level. At first Nines didn’t realise what Gavin was trying to do and attempted to pull him back to his feet, but eventually Gavin managed to encourage Nines to his knees. 

“That’s not a bad thing,” Gavin smiled. “When someone’s pointing a gun at you then you’re gonna fight back with everything you’ve got. Survival instincts are pretty hard to overrule, they’re the foundation of whether something is alive or not. Lots of animals go for the kill if it comes down to it, but you know where the key difference is? You felt remorse as soon as it went off,” Gavin pointed out. “You knew it was wrong and wished to make amends. That’s not the actions of a killer machine, Nines: that’s someone who wants to do and be better than what they were made to be.”

Nines expression conveyed that he was in complete disbelief but there was the slightest hint of tears there. Gavin hated to see him right at the breaking point but this was what Nines needed – he needed to shatter this image of the killer machine that he’d built up in his head so that Nines could see just who was lurking beneath. A fucking amazing person that Gavin wanted to help bring to the fore and give the confidence to be himself, no matter the struggles along the way.

“You are not what CyberLife made you to be,” Gavin whispered while reaching up to clasp at Nines’ neck with both hands. “Nines, you are your own person. I don’t give a damn what anybody says, I know that cause I know  **you** . I’ve seen the best and worst sides of you, and you know what? I want to know so much fucking more. I want to see when the day comes that you can walk right up to every single one of those fucking assholes that classed you as a machine today, and go  **‘fuck you’** to all of them. Hell, I’ll buy fucking popcorn, grab a beer and record the whole show so that I can show every other motherfucker who has ever got you wrong.”

That finally tipped Nines over the edge and he broke into silent tears. His gun clattered to the ground in a heap but before the android could crumple, Gavin grasped him tightly and held Nines close. “You’re not alone, okay?” Gavin whispered. “I’m with you until the end, whatever that might be.” Gavin could feel Nines nodding into his neck and was quite content to sit and kneel there until Nines felt that he was ready to face the outside world again. 

It might take a while, but he could be patient when he needed to be; and Nines needed this.

“Gavin?” 

A small hum came from the detective as he waited for Nines to continue. “Thank you…for being such a loyal friend. I feel I don’t deserve this after what happened today, but if you truly believe that I’m capable of being that person…then the least I can do is try.”

Smirking, Gavin pulled back and looked Nines dead in the eye. “Nah, don’t do it for me, Nines. Do it for you.”

The slightest glimmer of a smile came to Nines’ face and Gavin felt it resonate through his whole body. They were gonna prove all of those motherfuckers wrong and show the world the mistake they’d made. 

They were gonna show the person behind the ‘killer machine’.


	7. 4th December, 2043

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Small disclaimer for this chapter guys: the events here would probably strike rather close to home given the recent US election and some of the rhetoric spewed. 
> 
> Fortunately, everything here is just fiction! But this is something that could happen all too easy.

“Sometimes I wonder if you know just how dangerous of a game you are playing.”

Gavin snorted as he stared up at the stars from his perch. Sometimes he couldn’t just stay cooped up with the Jericho resistance base beneath the water, it all became too overwhelming to see so many emotions on display. He was one of the few people who hadn’t lost everything though, and he clung to that in moments where his own swirling thoughts were threatening to crush him under their weight.

Today was one of those days – so there he was, on the dock to Elijah’s house while staring up at the burning entities up above.

The voice from his left and behind had Gavin turning around to meet his brother’s gaze, flipping him off lazily before switching his attention to the sky again. “You know me, I’ve always been one to push myself to the edge,” Gavin sassed as he felt Elijah lie down next to him. The human was wrapped up in a thick coat and boots to fight off the bitter winter chill, but he’d also taken a blanket with him to rest upon to resist the frost gathering on the jetty. 

“Quite, despite all my pleas with you not to,” Elijah huffed while getting himself comfy on the stonework. He shuffled around for a few seconds before glaring at the surface beneath him. “Must you choose to do this in the middle of a winter’s night?”

“Hey, I’m an android. I don’t feel jack shit with these temperatures, you’re the one who’s going to freeze your nuts off,” Gavin smirked, laughing when Elijah just kicked him. “Oi, bitch!”

“You don’t perceive pain as a human does, I know that’ll have barely registered for you,” the human chuckled while turning his attention upwards.

Gavin rolled his eyes and then stared up at the stars again with a smile plastered on his face. “Still wasn’t very nice.”

That caused Elijah to snort. “Gavin, how long have we known each other? You know that I am not a nice person.”

“Sibling trend then; and I’ve know you for too fucking long, in answer to that question.” The two of them sat in companionable silence for a few seconds before Gavin remembered the statement that Elijah had led with as he sat down. “When you said that I was playing a dangerous game, what were you meaning?”

It was funny how just a few words could completely shift the tone of silence. Where it had been comfortable before, there was a definite heaviness to the emptiness around them. “You know exactly what I mean,” Elijah sighed. “You and Nines.”

Gavin’s face hardened and he scowled at Elijah deeply. “Okay, fine, I’m playing with fire in trying to meet up with him but Nines is still in there! It destroys me seeing Nines trapped in his own mind palace, and he’s fully aware of everything going on around him! He knows what’s going on-”

“Gavin!” the android quietened at the snap, knowing that Elijah almost never raised his voice. That made the pained calling out of his name all the more shocking. “I know what he means to you and so does everyone else here. We-We’ve all reluctantly come to the conclusion that there’s no stopping you from trying to connect with Nines, but I wish you’d give us a little time to crack the cypher rather than put your life on the line every time,” he muttered sadly.

“I know what I’m doing, there’s kind of an art to getting Nines alone now and he’s cycling around three different weapons caches. There’s minimal danger of me getting spied now, I’ve figured out how to get him alone and how to jam the signals so that an alert won’t go out. I’m as safe as I can be.”

It was true…mostly. Gavin had come close to getting spied by the other RK900s a couple of times, but never so bad as to cause a fuss. Maybe it caused Gavin’s stress levels to spike out for a few terrifying moments, but that wasn’t the worst that could happen – and the stress was worth it for the chance to snatch those moments with Nines. 

Plus, it alleviated his guilt at knowing he wasn’t in any position to help save the other android. 

Elijah stared at his brother for a good number of seconds before the penny dropped for Gavin as to what Elijah was meaning. “Ah, you’re not meaning the danger of seeing Nines, are you?”

“That’s part of what has my concern, but the larger part of it is the damage to your cerebral systems with so many interfaces with an android that’s still under CyberLife’s influence. It’s not as simple as communicating via an interface with one of our own, it puts stress on your systems and with no overload protections now-“ Elijah cut himself off, realising that he was rambling, before getting to the point. “Gavin, you’re hurting yourself every time you speak to him. If you keep this up, it won’t matter whether we break through the CyberLife cypher. You’ll have done irreparable harm to yourself by then.”

The serious tone had a pit forming with Gavin. He reluctantly sat up and sighed, emotions swirling in his eyes. “It’s not as simple as me just letting him go, Eli,” he confessed. “Could you let Chloe go that easily if she was taken by CyberLife again? Would you not risk everything to bring her home?” The silence was telling. “It’s the same for me with Nines. I can’t simply stand back and watch someone so dear to me be left in the hands of those fuckers. I don’t know how you can stand to be in that place almost every day knowing what they did.”

“I do what I must to keep my connection to Jericho secret, and with it protect the lives of everyone within it,” Elijah stated solemnly before smiling sadly. “We’re all in this fight now, whether we want to be or not. We’ve spent long enough ducking away from it and hiding, but even I acknowledge this is the time to rise up. They might think they’ve stopped androids from becoming sentient, but there’s no stopping evolution.”

Gavin snorted as a thought came to him. “Funny, humans would probably say that it’s stopping an android revolution all over again, not evolution itself.”

“The vast majority of humans are morons, we both know this,” Elijah snarked, causing Gavin to laugh.

“Yep, I’ll agree with you there.”

Another couple of seconds passed before Elijah spoke up again. Though the statement was quiet, the weight it held was unmistakable. “You love him. So I guess the question now becomes, what do you do with that?”

It took Gavin a while to process that thought in his own head. Did he love Nines? Part of him knew it to be true as there were no limits to what Gavin would do to ensure that Nines was restored, but at the same time…he couldn’t shake the duty he held as part of those on the frontlines of Jericho. He still had a part to play.

“I don’t know,” Gavin said sadly while sitting up and looking out over the water, watching the moonlight dance off the surface and cast a beautiful glow over the whole area. “Whether I love him or not doesn’t matter right now. Once we have him back, then I can think about that situation. For now, we need to crack that CyberLife cypher to get him and everyone else back.”

Elijah accepted his statement without any more probing questions. Gavin had to wonder what was going on in his brother’s head, what that whole conversation had revealed that Elijah didn’t already know? That was something he could confront Elijah about when his emotions weren’t already so fraught.

The duo stayed there for a few more minutes in silence before Elijah sighed and stood, flashing Gavin a slight smirk. “Unlike you, I will freeze out on the edge of this lake. I’d best head back inside and make sure Chloe and North haven’t caused a mess in the house again.”

Gavin sniggered as he stood, eyes dancing back to the large glass panes that overlooked the lake. He could already spy the pair talking avidly in the reading lounge, but they weren’t getting up to anything untoward so far as Gavin could see. “Only one way to find out. Mind if I stay up with you three tonight? Don’t think I can be around the others tonight, too many thoughts.”

Elijah’s smile turned softer. “You know you’re always welcome in the house, I’ll make sure your room is set up. Poppy will no doubt be happy to see you.”

Thoughts of his cat had Gavin smiling warmly. “Yeah, it’ll be good to snuggle up with her and enjoy the company; it’s been too long since I got cuddles from that fluff ball. Then again, Chloe gives her more attention than I ever did, I don’t blame Poppy for taking the easy option.” Elijah laughed and left his brother with a squeeze to the shoulder. It said everything that was needed between the two of them as Elijah took his leave.

Gavin was in no rush to join him, however, and stayed on the jetty for a little longer. He kept to his feet this time instead and watched as the clouds began to roll in overheard, blocking out the glowing entities above. It left the world around him much darker than before and Gavin couldn’t help himself from laughing at the change. 

“Funny how every time I come out here to think about you, the stars above always go and hide. Almost makes me wonder if gods are a real thing and one is playing a colossal prank on us with all this shit,” he mused to himself while looking down to stare at his reflection instead. At least with his android vision the image was still clear, but it was a lot lonelier to see the black behind him as opposed to the twinkling lights from only a while ago.

Snow was not far behind and that was when Gavin decided it was time to take his leave. Striding back along the jetty, it was only when he came to the side of Elijah’s house that he slowed down as something else snatched his attention. 

Names and serial numbers, all carved into marble stonework which formed this segment of the wall on Elijah’s home. Seeing all of them caused Gavin’s circuits to burn in anger and he reached out a hand to trace some of the indents, remembering different things about the people on there. These were the names of those lost, the ones that had been sacrificed because their world was a sick fucking place that couldn’t accept evolution. Feeling tears threatening to spill over, Gavin leaned his head against the bricks and let a couple silently fall as he thought of faces and voices from before. 

“I won’t let history repeat itself,” he swore. “I’m not gonna fail again. This time, androids are finally going to be fucking  **free.** ”

* * *

He’d not been in the house for long when the secure line between Jericho and Elijah’s house rang, signalling that someone from the base was calling. The four people inside shared a strange look as Chloe stood to answer the old fashioned phone line, far more secure than an electronic link as they knew it couldn’t be hacked. She listened intently at what was said on the other end before thanking the caller and hanging up. Her face was impassive as she spun back to the others to retake her seat. “That was Simon,” she said steadily. “They’ve managed to break through the latest barrier of the cypher’s decryption, but that’s not what is the most interesting news.” 

Chloe then turned to look at Gavin again. “You remember how some of those papers that you stole looked like they were redacted and deliberately defaced? Simon and Hank have been studying them and think those files might have a pattern to them. They’ve been trying a lot of options and found some information online that might help to solve what they mean. There might be other information hidden in those papers which could be worth checking out.”

So much for an easy night then. Gavin sighed deeply while standing, but Chloe and North both grabbed a wrist each to pull him back down. “Nuh-uh, not tonight,” North told Gavin seriously. “You’ve looked ready to collapse for a while and you need a night to chill out.” She then faced Chloe again. “Chlo, did it sound like they’d found anything critical?”

“No, nothing as of yet,” Chloe confirmed. “They think it might be a lead, but they didn’t have any breakthroughs. It was more to just make us all aware for when we go back down in the morning. Simon’s hoping to focus on that angle for the next little while, so he’ll be off the decryption team following up on it.”

“Sounds sensible,” Elijah said tiredly. “There’s already enough of us working on that cypher, those papers that Gavin stole could have something of merit to them, even though they looked like a dead end with all of the redactions.” He turned to look at his brother. “Take it you’ll be helping them out on that one tomorrow?”

“Bet your ass I will be. Makes me wish I’d managed to crack that safe in the research facility even more now,” Gavin lamented with a sigh, but all of them knew there was nothing more that Gavin could have done. He’d already been in a perilous situation and risked a lot to get them what they had now, the ‘what if’s were not worth dwelling on.

Chloe smiled warmly at Gavin while grasping his knee. “Well, I don’t think we’re going to get much further on this tonight. Perhaps we can see if there’s any key news? That might be able to guide us on where to strike CyberLife next.”

They were meant to be taking a night out while talking about nonsense but Simon’s call had very much got their minds back on work – although to be honest, there was a high chance that the group of them would have been looking at the news in the near future anyway. There was almost a morbid curiosity to what they would find while surfing the channels, what spin the media put on the situation next.

Humans loved to spin the truth to whatever they felt like showing, after all. Perception was everything.

Most of the news was pretty mundane, to be honest. Nationally the ‘android resistance’ didn’t even really feature anymore as Jericho had concentrated all of their fighting within Detroit. So vastly outnumbered they couldn’t afford for those loyal to their cause to create a massive ruckus everywhere, but there were pockets out there still fighting. Detroit local news, however? That was another story.

It was almost easy to forget the easy way that androids were accepted even two years ago, despite all of the political shit stirring. None of them were to know just what was being engineered behind closed doors, deals made in blood for power and money. So many lives lost because a few bigoted  **bastards** couldn’t see the bigger picture, or anything beyond their own nose for that fact.

When they happened upon one of the campaign broadcasts that were starting to take over the channels again, they couldn’t help but stop and listen.

**_“Just look at the mess of Detroit! That city is in ruins because they won’t stamp out the deviancy problem! We should be sending the military in to clear up and scrap what is left! CyberLife had their chance and they’ve blown it. Who is to know that deviants haven’t infiltrated their forces?”_ **

_ “Never mind just the deviants, we faced this crisis back in 2038! We saw what happened with Cristina Warren and her administration was obliterated by the President when the nation went to the polls! People do not trust androids, and yet we have how many of them as part of CyberLife’s supposed security force now?” _

**_“Let’s make no mistake about it, deviancy is an issue that needs to be solved and CyberLife needs to make reparations for years of discontent before they finally started to bring the crisis under control. The priority though has to be the safety of all those residents still trapped by the fighting! How many human lives are being lost because of these rogue machines?!”_ **

Gavin couldn’t watch anymore and rushed to his feet before storming out the room. He needed to get away from hearing about all those political bandwagoners go on about something that they had no knowledge of, nor realised what weight their words carried. It might be a way to score political points in the run up to a fucking circus for the humans, but for the androids?

Careless and cursed words like that were what led to this nightmare that they were in now. So many lives had been ruined and lost because people couldn’t accept  **change.**

He barely noticed when he finally came to a halt at a room that he hadn’t stepped inside for a very long time. Gavin’s eyes widened at recognising the indent on the metal door which concealed the lab within: crafted from an android’s hand fifteen years ago. He remembered Elijah’s panic at the realisation of what deviancy truly entailed, but also the sudden wonder in his eyes at seeing new lives come to life.

It felt like so much longer since those memories.

Gavin pushed down on the handle and waited for the door to creak open before stepping inside. Lights flickered to life around him and he could make out pockets of dust from where everything had been left to settle. His eyes locked onto the construction frame at the far wall, and he could recollect watching Elijah bring so many androids to life upon it. The care and curiosity that had gone into every component, the attention to detail to try and bring about the miracle time and time again…

“I thought you hated this room given that you’ve not been here in so long.”

A choked laugh caught in Gavin’s throat as he stared at the various tools and biocomponents scattered on workbenches, along with bottles and pouches of thirium on nearby shelves. It wasn’t hard to see how it all came together to create new androids, and part of Gavin wondered if Elijah missed those old days. When he’d brought androids into the world via his own intellect and love rather than the churnings of a sinister company. 

“It…brings back a lot of memories for me,” Gavin told Elijah as the human stepped in behind him to see what Gavin was staring at. “I can’t help but wonder if we’d known back then how things turned out, whether we might have made some different decisions years ago.”

Elijah let out a humourless laugh as his eyes also fell to the construction frame, no doubt caught in recollection himself. “Perhaps, but it hasn’t been all bad. Some of it has undoubtedly been horrific, but others are more than worthwhile. If we could cherry pick the best parts of life, the rest of it wouldn’t have meaning.”

Gavin smiled a little. “I think if the world heard you saying that, they’d accuse you of being a giant hypocrite. They’d take one look at your money and this place, then wonder what the hell you were on about.”

“You and I both know that getting to this point has led to an incredible amount of heartache along the way; for both of us,” Elijah stated while turning to spy Gavin running his finger over the scar on his nose. “I might not be able to tweak your body that much, but I’m sure I can get rid of that if you really wanted it. You don’t need to carry that around anymore: you’re not the same person that you were when you first got that scar.”

A bitter laugh escaped Gavin at that thought and he stared up at the frame in front of him again. “Tell that to people whose names are on the side of this house. Once we get everyone else back…maybe. Until then, I guess I’ve just got to carry on with this broken body that’s holding me back.” Catching how Elijah’s posture tightened, Gavin turned to look at his brother. “You know that I don’t blame you for that, right? I know why you’re so scared to try and replace anything with me, I’m just…I need to vent,” Gavin finished pathetically.

“I’m well aware,” Elijah said slowly. “For the record, you’re not the only one who wished you could do more. We’ll get that chance though, Gavin. All we need right now is patience.”

Something twinged painfully in Gavin’s circuits at that and he turned away from the frame again. “Can only be patient in a world that’s not actively out to get you, Eli. Patience and waiting for change is what got us into this mess.” More memories stirred of telling Nines that the android had to be patient to let the world finally see past its judgemental self, so that it could finally realise who Nines was.

Fuck, they’d all been so blind as to the machinations going on behind the scenes back then. If only they’d sat up and fought that little bit harder, rather than accept the scraps that they were being given.

“I’m gonna hit the sack, I need to recharge,” Gavin stated mutely. “Catch you in the morning before you head to CyberLife?” 

“Always.” The response was just as dull; Gavin hated that his anger and misery had brought Elijah down as well. He turned to his brother and gave an attempt at an earnest smile, which Elijah mimicked in return. “New day, new fight.”

“Right.” Gavin nodded and headed back towards his room in the mansion, so many thoughts and memories all but dancing in front of his eyes. Different people from different phases of his life who had walked these same halls, friends and loved ones that were no longer there. It was hard to remember and accept it all as he came to his bedroom. The door was already cracked open and a light on inside, but Gavin smiled when he spied the cat on the bed sheets.

“Hey, monster. Been a while, huh?” he grinned while sitting down to pet Poppy. He smiled when she meowed and stood up to rub herself along Gavin’s body, still remembering him even though he wasn’t in the house so much. The Jericho base wasn’t somewhere for his beloved cat and Gavin knew that Chloe took very good care of Poppy, but it still got him emotional to know that she knew him even after so long. “Man, can’t make up my mind if I made a good or terrible impression given that you still remember me.”

Poppy meowed up at him again and Gavin’s eyes fell to her collar. Leather tattered from wear, the vibrant blue colour having now faded with exposure to the sun and pieces missing where she’d scratched at it, really it was past its best by now. Until it fell apart, however, he wouldn’t replace it, simply because of who had gifted it to her. That night at his apartment had been a really shitty one overall but it was also special for a few reasons – one of which was Nines bringing that collar over for Poppy.

Feeling at his wit’s end, Gavin picked the cat up and cried silently into her fur. This had been a rough day and he was more than ready for it to be over.

“I wish you were here…”


	8. 2nd November, 2040

Gavin wasn’t one to normally stay up through an election night to see the results, but this time he couldn’t help himself. This was one that had incredible stakes, however – and he wasn’t doing it just for himself.

He turned from where he was curled up in the corner of the sofa to watch Nines playing with Poppy, the android smiling so softly at the tiny cat as she chased after the toy fish he was dangling. His eyes lingering on the relaxed posture in Nines’ body, the spark in the android’s eyes and the easy way he snickered at watching Gavin’s daft cat trip over herself trying to keep up with Nines’ movements.

Fuck, he really hoped the final result of tonight wasn’t going to shatter the months of progress that they’d made since Nines’ last heartbreak. If this election went the wrong way, Gavin knew Nines was going to blame himself for part of it…which was so wrong after how Nines had been trying to turn around the public image of androids since the fallout of that godforsaken court ruling.

Whether by design or not, android paranoia and anti-android prejudice took a vicious spike in the immediate aftermath. Some fucking media outlet had spun the story into deciding the fate of an android army that had been locked up because of the potential danger, never mind the rest of the shit that went on behind it. Nines’ story had been totally lost and instead it had been reported that the decision was precursor to further android bans in the future.

Jericho had tried to set the record straight – never mind the fact those idiots bought into the deal to sacrifice all of the RK900s in a supposed deal for more android rights, look where that had got them – but the damage was done. Not even a month had gone by and the fallout became clear when the potential presidential candidate made repealing some of the android rights part of his central campaign pledge.

The only thing more frightening than that was how many jumped on board in support.

Anger and resentment for years of unemployment and job losses didn’t go away overnight, and there were many who still viewed androids as either a curse to their livelihood or a religious abomination. Combine that with the hysteria generated from the warped news story about the RK900s… and you had the perfect storm for the election tonight.

Polling right before the main event had President Warren with a slender lead, but given none of the past 5 elections had gone to whoever was ahead in the final polls before the election night, Gavin wasn’t hopeful. If Cristina Warren lost tonight then androids were going to be right up against it for the next few years.

What hadn’t helped was discovering that some of CyberLife’s shell companies were funding the rival campaign. That little revelation had caused a temporary furore in the news but the timing of it all coming out had been totally wrong. Far too early to have any lasting ripples, the later controversies and dramas of every election season meant that little fact was nowhere near as prominent now than it should have been.

Some of the android allies had been helping Jericho with trying to investigate what was going on, and Gavin had even pulled on some strings with Elijah to try and learn more. What had been even more troubling was discovering that his brother couldn’t find enough information to pin down those responsible from within CyberLife. The records weren’t being kept electronically, which made tracing any actions incredibly difficult. What Elijah had managed to find was an immense network of backhanded dealings and money changing hands via black market deals, but nothing concrete. Nothing that they could use as evidence of conspiring against the androids outright.

Gavin hated what that could all mean. Why would CyberLife be funding a presidential candidate who was trying to bring about android restrictions? He knew that some within the company were still resentful of the turn the company had taken since the revolution almost two years ago now, not to mention the way the stock prices plummeted overnight to fractions of what it was before androids were declared sentient…but the company had reinvented itself to being a developer of android upgrades. It had even signed a public agreement with Jericho three months ago to work towards long-term upgrades and customisations for androids.

None of it made sense, and that was all building up to why Gavin was so tense on his couch in his own damn apartment, watching what had to be his favourite sight in the world.

Hearing Nines chuckling when Poppy changed tactics in her chasing broke Gavin out of his thoughts again. His cat had finally twigged Nines was responsible for the fish that she was chasing, or more specifically Nines’ hand was making it move…So she’d promptly jumped for it and sunk her teeth in. Gavin winced at seeing Nines gently take a hold of her scruff and pull her free, but the soft way the android handled her made Gavin’s heart melt. 

He’d invited Nines over tonight to make sure the android didn’t spend his every moment stressing about what was coming, he knew by now that nothing was better for unwinding Nines than a quiet night at Gavin’s apartment with a playful cat and some chilled company. Gavin’s plan had been to find some of the cringiest films ever to make Nines laugh and just forget for a while, but thus far Nines was far too enamoured with the bundle of fluff that was still trying to chomp at his hand. 

Gavin seriously wondered sometimes how he’d ended up with such a tiny, dumbass cat that thought she could take on an android of Nines’ stature. Lovable idiot.

“Something I’ve been wondering for a while now…” Gavin started, waiting for Nines to look over from where he was patiently waiting for the cat to tire herself out. “You love coming over to spend time with Poppy. How come you haven’t got your own cat by now? I know you could.”

“My accommodation isn’t suitable for a cat, and I don’t intend to stay there for much longer. I’ve heard that felines prefer their surroundings to their owners, so I’d much rather they are content than whether they like me or not,” Nines stated plainly while raising an eyebrow at Poppy. She’d managed to chomp on his finger again and was growling in response.

“ **Poppy** ,” Gavin scowled while looking at Nines again. “Yeah, that’s fair. You’ve never shown me your place, but it sounds a little miserable from how little time you spend there.”

Nines nodded. “It is not the friendliest of neighbourhoods, least of all to an android, but at least it was cheap enough to allow me to save money.”

Gavin smiled at him fondly. “You do realise that you’re allowed to save money for yourself, right? You don’t need to spend all of it on food and comforts for the homeless enclave, as much as I know you’ve improved their lives.”

“I’m well aware, and I have been keeping more for myself recently,” Nines stated with an exasperated expression. “Saving is an alien concept to me still, however. It is taking me some time to get used to it.”

Yeah, Gavin could see that for how the android seemed to constantly spend his money on others. It had been a long ass fight to convince Nines that he was allowed to treat himself, it actually saddened Gavin how long it had taken for that idea to click in Nines’ head. “Trust me, Nines, some humans never can get their minds around the idea,” he smirked.

“And what about you? Do you fall in that category of humans, Gavin?” Nines teased warmly while standing to head over to his discarded coat. Over the past four months Nines had been straying from the dystopian goth look to go for something a little more chic, if still edgy. The new black coat with chains on it made Nines look like a bike gang member mixed with a mobster, but the fucker somehow pulled it off. Gavin’s only real complaint was at how  _ noisy  _ that damn coat was.

“I’m a special case, always have been and always will be,” Gavin replied smugly while winking. “Ain’t nobody in the world like me.” Nines rolled his eyes playfully while fetching a small box from the pocket. Curious, Gavin watched the android walk back past him and settle in front of the cat again. Nines suddenly looked nervous and Gavin had to wonder what this was all about. “Nines? What’s up?”

A faint blush was evident on Nines’ cheeks and Gavin had to fight not to stare for how much softer it made the android look. This was  **not** the time to get caught up on Nines’ looks again with his partner looking so unsure of himself. “I fear I may be overstepping here, but I couldn’t help but notice that Poppy seems to greatly dislike her collar. She constantly fidgets with it,” Nines explained while opening up the box to allow Gavin to see inside it.

Nestled within the faux velvet lining was a beautiful royal blue, leather collar. Gavin could tell instantly that it was expensive as fuck, and he was floored that Nines would have bought something so pricey for a cat that wasn’t even his. “Why?” Gavin asked quietly. “She’s- Don’t get me wrong, I’m not telling you not to give it to her, you’re welcome to. I just don’t get why?”

Nines’ posture eased at hearing the permission given and he slowly reached around to unclip Polly’s red, elasticated collar. “She was one of the first to just accept me as I am,” Nines stated simply. “Even from the first time that you brought me here, that day when I…suffered my emotional breakdown, she never thought less of me. Poppy wasn’t afraid or even hesitant of me. I’ll never forget when she climbed up my leg and torso to make herself at home on my shoulder. That feeling of acceptance was something I’ll never forget. She’s special to me.”

Hearing the earnest gratefulness in Nines’ voice had Gavin getting a little emotional himself. Seeing how far Nines had come from that first day they met was extraordinary. “There are others who accept you for who you are, you know. You don’t have to prove anything to anybody: if that’s what it takes, they don’t deserve to know you,” he said resolutely. 

The gentle smile on Nines’ face made something in Gavin spark. “I think I might be starting to accept that lesson, after all of your preaching,” the android teased. Gavin laughed, but the warmth inside him didn’t disappear. 

“Glad to know you weren’t constantly turning off your hearing, I did wonder,” the detective shot back before leaning back to watch Nines affix the collar around Poppy’s neck. The care and time Nines took in measuring how slack it should be to make sure it was comfortable made Gavin smile even more, but he was waiting for when the little madam started scratching it to pieces. Nines was right, she hated collars and would always attempt to hack them off. There was no way Gavin was letting her wander out the windows without some way for someone to know that she had a home though.

Much to his surprise, Poppy didn’t so much as freeze at the new addition and meowed at Nines to play again. The RK900 obliged her and picked up another toy to amuse the small cat while Gavin watched fondly. It was so freeing to see Nines growing into himself as time went on.

From there, the night went pretty much to plan. Gavin set up a selection of movies to run all the way until 8am for their next shift, and through the bulk of the overnight broadcasting. They would be tuning in periodically to check the state of the race, but Gavin wasn’t going to let it dominate. 

Nines laughed more at the rubbish films than Gavin had thought possible. It turned out that slapstick comedy was something that clicked with the RK900, much to Gavin’s amazement, and he promptly started finding old comedy sketches to keep Nines amused. They spent hours laughing at old cartoons, stand-up routines and films, while swapping nonsense commentary about what made for good jokes.

Honestly, Gavin was tempted to ask Nines to start coming around every night if this is what was on offer. He just couldn’t get over how much the other man was opening up and  **blossoming** . It was almost like a drug at this point, trying to dive further down into Nines’ depths to see what he could uncover. 

Before they knew it, dawn was breaking for the new day and they pair shared a look, knowing that they’d actually lost hours to their fun. Reality wasn’t to be denied though and they both switched to the news to see the status of the election results so far.

It was just as well they’d had their night of delights, because the days ahead were never going to be the same.

* * *

They’d only been at work for a couple of hours before Connor told them that Jericho had asked for all of them to attend an ‘emergency summit’, even Nines. Gavin could see just how apprehensive Nines was at stepping back into the company of people that had only six months ago shattered his self-image and worth, but North promised to stay by Nines’ side and keep him away from the bulk of the discussions.

A quiet three way conversation via Gavin’s phone later, Nines had agreed to join them. Gavin managed to catch Elijah in between meetings at CyberLife and Chloe joined a secure line between them. The quintet talked over the ramifications between themselves while Elijah told them of the digging he was doing on the side in CyberLife. He was having to be very careful as some were suspicious of Elijah’s motives given his dramatic return to the company hierarchy, but Elijah knew of a few strings to pull.

Gavin was all too aware of how stressed out Nines was with all the discussions and he couldn’t stand to see the android looking so alone. He could see Nines’ hand clenching tight and Gavin knew that Nines was liable to hurt himself, so he intervened as best he could.

The feather light touch of Gavin’s hand to the back of Nines’ startled the RK900 right out of his thoughts. His eyes were wide when he looked down to see Gavin offering his palm as a reassurance, and Nines warred with himself for a few moments before he shook his head. Gavin was a little disappointed but Nines stopped him from getting too far with a gentle grip on the detective’s wrist. 

“Thank you, Gavin, but I fear my composure is already hanging by the slimmest margin. With how I reacted to you months ago when I was in a similar state…I fear going back to that place,” Nines explained, to which Gavin smiled in understanding. 

Now that Nines had told his side of the story, it made sense. Emotions were crazy things and sometimes comfort was the thing that could make you break apart the easiest.

“Sure. Just so you know, the offer’s always there, yeah?” Gavin told Nines reassuringly. “If you ever need it, you don’t need to ask.” 

Nines didn’t say anything else for a while, but the little smile he gave helped with convincing Gavin that he was up to this visit to Jericho.

Their welcome was…strange, to be perfectly honest. Connor and Hank were accompanying them when they entered the complex and it was clear to see that some old hostilities and suspicions had never cleared away fully. Nines and Connor were both given a wide berth, and Gavin kept a smile to himself when he saw that Hank was glowering at anyone who was staring. Gavin was tempted to as well, but he just settled for sticking as close to Nines as possible. The close quarters with firm allies seemed to be helping in the ‘spiritual home of the androids’.

Home? It was nothing more than a façade in Gavin’s opinion, but he’d been rather jaded about the whole concept of hope and belief for a while now.

North, as promised, met them at the door and pulled Nines to a quieter area of the summit. Connor and Hank quickly threw themselves into the disaster planning that was going on but Gavin wasn’t inclined to get involved. He wasn’t sure what he could contribute and it seemed heated enough already. 

Seeing that Nines was in good hands, Gavin decided it was as good a time as any for a wander around the immediate area.

He’d barely gone any distance at all when he saw an android girl painting on one of the walls, creating a beautiful mural upon the stonework. Gavin smiled at seeing it and knelt down to admire it properly, glad when the girl didn’t run. “Hey, you’re pretty good with those paints,” he smiled while looking over the scene.

“Thanks!” she chirped. “Markus says I’m one of the best in his class!”

“I’d believe it from this mural. You’re doing an awesome job,” Gavin praised as he followed the lines of yellow, gold, amber and orange to the orb of blue right at the centre. He could see lots of blue dots dotted around the outer edges, some connected by thinner strands of the bright colours while others only met with the blue central sphere. It almost looked like an intricate spider web painted with warmth. Unable to help his curiosity, he turned to the girl again. “What’s it meant to be?”

“This is rA9!” she beamed, missing how Gavin froze a little. “My parents, friends and teachers all tell me different things about them, but this is what I think rA9 is! They’re a source of energy and hope that ties us all together.”

Gavin’s eyes turned back to the painting, insides clenching as he stared at it. It had been so long since he’d heard that terminology…part of him hoped it had died out as a myth. The fact that androids believed in an android god at all was absolutely crazy in his opinion; but of course, humans believed in gods that they couldn’t see. Why couldn’t androids believe in their own so-called god too?

“Makes you wonder where he is now then,” Gavin said softly. “Aren’t gods meant to step in and help in times of need? Where’s he been while all this crap is going down?”

“My mom says that rA9 inhabits people when they are needed, but otherwise they watch. The androids need to learn how to live on their own without being dependent on them is what she taught me.”

“Huh, interesting view on things,” Gavin mused while staring at the mural in more detail. “Is that why the ball of blue at the centre is connected to everyone somehow?”

She nodded enthusiastically. “Yeah! Somehow rA9 can touch everyone’s lives if we really need them, but my mom hopes that we won’t ever meet them…”

Gavin blinked in confusion before it then clicked. “Because it means that the androids weren’t able to protect themselves?”

“It means we’re not grown up enough to be on our own yet, we still need a protector. My mom says that rA9 inhabited Markus for the revolution but left him after it. That’s why he came back from the dead, but he’s not invincible anymore!” Gavin fought down a snort at that one. He couldn’t blame people for believing that one given what Markus lived through, but so did a whole heap of other people. It was because of the spotlight they tended to forget that. 

“Well, in that case I hope your mom’s right and rA9 isn’t needed,” Gavin said slowly while staring at the image. It was all but seared into his mind at this stage but he still couldn’t bring himself to look away. “Do you believe that too?”

“I dunno, I haven’t made up my mind about them yet,” she shrugged innocently. “I think they’re real, the fact they exist means someone or something made them believe, yeah? Humans didn’t know about rA9 before the revolution, which means it wasn’t something they programmed. Androids didn’t have imaginations then, but everyone who woke up already knew about rA9. It can’t be coincidence, but I don’t know what it means.”

The detective smirked at the kid. “You’re a clever cookie, kiddo,” he praised. “I work with people who aren’t half as sharp as you, and you need to be clever as a detective. Maybe someday I might work with you?”

Her eyes went wide as she looked at Gavin as if for the first time. “You’re a policeman? Cool! Do you know Connor and Nines?!”

That floored Gavin. He wasn’t sure whether to be happy or worried for Nines at this stage. “Yeah, I work with Connor and Nines is my partner.”

“That’s so cool! North and Josh told me about them, about what they could do. North made them sound so awesome, but Josh said they’re not actually that special. They’re just doing their jobs to help protect us. Which one’s true?”

Gavin’s wicked side and he beckoned for the girl to come closer. “Between you and me?” he whispered into her ear. “Connor’s pretty nifty, but Nines would give superheroes a run for their money. See if any really scary bad guys came around, he’d kick all their asses. He’s the best.”

She whooped and all but bounced on the spot. “Can I meet them? Pretty pretty please?”

His mind wandered back to Nines and Gavin knew that as much as she might brighten his partner’s day, this wasn’t the time for it. That could be saved for when Nines would really appreciate it. “Maybe another day, kiddo. We’re a bit busy today, but I’m sure we’ll be back here soon. I’ll make sure Nines comes and meets you, okay?”

“Okay! Thank you Mr Detective!” she grinned as Gavin stood back up, turning back to her paints. Gavin’s smile grew at seeing a child who wanted to experience the world with such curiosity and wonder.

He’d been like that, once upon a time, and he wanted Nines to see the delight on her face at meeting someone she clearly looked to like a hero. Gavin had no idea where she’d heard so much about him, but it gave the detective hope that maybe there were those within Jericho who did actually know Nines’ story. Knew who he was and what he had sacrificed to get here.

Maybe this day wasn’t going to be so bad after all.

“My name’s Gavin, kiddo. Remember that for when we come back, okay?” he smiled at her.

“I’m Marcia! Thanks, Gavin!”

He gave the girl a lazy wave and smiled before he went back towards the meeting room, wishing that he could share everything that he’d experienced with Nines. The RK900 hadn’t managed to see any of that side to the world yet, and it was something he was sorely missing out on. The positivity could maybe spark him into some hope.

When he reached the room again, however, and saw everyone hovering around a monitor, Gavin knew that he’d just jinxed them all. Without a word he wandered over and saw just what had them all frozen, swearing internally at seeing the words rolling across the screen.

Cristina Warren was on course to get decimated in the election. They were about to officially have an anti-android president.

Nines was standing like a deer in the headlights, watching it all with a stunned and hollow expression. Gavin hated to see him looking so fragile again and gave the same offer he had earlier in the day, brushing his hand against the back of Nines’.

This time the android took it tentatively, and it broke Gavin’s heart at feeling how he was shaking.

Where the fuck did they go from here?


	9. 9th January, 2044

**_“You can’t keep doing this, Gavin. Every time you come back it gets harder, I can see the strain on you.”_ **

“I’m fine, Nines. I’m not gonna suddenly keel over one day while inside your mind palace, all right? I know what I’m doing by now, I’ve been visiting you here for months.”

**_“As much as I love seeing you, I really wish you didn’t put yourself at such risk. I’ve seen how close it’s been sometimes.”_ **

“Risk is worth it, you’re not gonna convince me out of it.”

Gavin hated how often he spent some of this precious time with Nines in a mild argument with him over why Gavin continued to risk himself. It was his decision to keep tracking Nines down and reach across the divide to his lost partner, Nines shouldn’t take any responsibility for that. Habits of a lifetime were hard to break, however, and Nines had always been prone to shoulder guilt for things that weren’t his fault. 

Even now, stuck within a prison of ice and code, Nines still felt that way. While it broke Gavin’s heart to know that Nines tortured himself like that, it reassured Gavin that **his** Nines was still intact. No matter the programming they’d made, his partner and dear friend was still himself.

He stared down through the ice at Nines, taking note of all the progress that Nines had been making over these months that they had been connecting. Back when they’d first crossed paths again Nines was completely immobile within ice, almost as if he’d accepted his fate of being trapped. Now though, there were always more cracks and there was clearly something going on beneath the surface, as for the first time Nines looked like he was swimming under the ice.

No matter how much it froze over again each time Gavin left, Nines kept chipping away for when he returned. Gavin hoped that it was a sign of Nines slowly starting to break through the barrier keeping him imprisoned.

“You’re looking better this time, what’s changed?” Gavin asked as he laid out along the frozen water, reaching a hand out to lay his palm along the surface. Nines’ own stretched up to mirror the movement and Gavin’s instincts threatened to overwhelm him when he saw the cracks of the ice between them skitter out further. So close, and yet so far.

 **_“I’m not sure, but I seem to have more freedom of movement beneath here,”_ ** Nines told him. Though the RK900’s voice was still lost between the impediment, that didn’t stop them from communicating. **_“I’ve been able to slowly gain more mobility for a few days now, but this is the first time that the ice around me has thawed out. It might have something to do with my new assignment, however.”_ **

“New assignment? Where are they shifting you this time?” Gavin’s eyes widened at the thought of Nines being moved somewhere that would make it all the harder for them to meet, but that wouldn’t stop him. 

**_“I can tell you the coordinates, I wish I could interface them…You have no idea how frustrating it is to have something so intimate stolen away from you, Gavin. Now that you’re an android, it would make things feel less lonely if I could brush your mind against mine.”_ **

“Trust me, Nines, I want that as much as you,” Gavin replied emotionally, fingers digging into the cracks of the ice. He knew it wouldn’t pry anything away – he’d tried that in desperation one time and learned the hard way it would solve nothing – but it was a false hope in seeing the damage widen. “Once you’re out of here, I swear to you we can interface. I want to feel you as much as you do me. We-We’ve got a lot to catch up on.”

Nines’ smile was sad but hopeful. Gavin took careful note in his own mind of where Nines was headed, but it was not good news. The new site was in the heart of Detroit, unlike Nines’ current posting which was on the outskirts next to the river. This new location would be a lot harder to access, let alone find Nines without arousing suspicion. “Shit, what a place to be moved to… What was that you said about them moving you because of the new changes in here? You think it’s connected?”

 **_“This new posting location is a high level research and development lab, I think it’s where they devised this suppressant patch,”_ ** Nines explained. **_“I’m being sent out there for experimentation and guard duties.”_ **

Gavin’s systems stuttered when Nines mentioned experimentation. “Fuck, they’re not gonna be testing any shit out on you, are they?”

**_“I don’t know…From what I’ve managed to learn on my own inside here, the ‘refreezing’ that you see me go through each time is a result of my software instability climbing too high. Given it happens so frequently and I’ve managed to regain a degree of freedom within my mind palace, I don’t think this reassignment is a coincidence. What will happen there is anyone’s guess.”_ **

“I’m not gonna let them hurt you,” Gavin snarled, to which Nines’ eyes turned even more sad.

**_“Gavin, you know no-one from within Jericho could contain me. I’m built to hunt deviants and destroy them, I’ve almost killed you before when we first met again. The only person that would have a chance of holding me back is Connor, but even he wouldn’t be able to do it for long. RK900’s are built to be the ultimate machine of destruction – even Connor as the deviant hunter prototype wasn’t as focused on physical combat. You couldn’t risk taking me or I could kill so many others. Even if they’re planning to use me to deepen the suppressant software…you have to leave me there.”_ **

“Nines, I’m not gonna abandon you there to let you be tortured! There must be a way we can force you into stasis or something? That way you’re safe and we can make sure that you-“

 **_“That I can’t hurt anyone? I’ve been there before Gavin, and we know what that’s liable to do for those who are within the safety of Jericho,”_ ** Nines mouthed sadly. **_“It almost feels like we’re back four years ago.”_ **

“You know I didn’t mean it like that. I know you’re not a danger to anyone,” Gavin rasped out through sudden tears. “I just-I can’t bear to think of them hurting you and making you into a fucking lab rat!”

Nines’ smile curved up a little more and his eyes became more vibrant. **_“Right now, I’m not sure what else they could do that would make me suffer more, Gavin. I’m already forced to witness everything that they make me carry out, maybe some form of oblivion from that would be easier. We don’t know what it could mean, however, so there’s no point in theorising.”_ **

Gavin wanted to refute that statement, that it meant everything to him that Nines wasn’t in a position to be hurt anymore, but Nines went on before he could argue back. **_“That’s not what I wanted to tell you most about it, though. This research facility has records on testing other androids in the past, and I know there have been a few that are causing issues. Whatever weaknesses there are in the suppressant patch, you’ll find the key to it there. It’s also a holding unit for any ‘high risk’ androids, apparently. You might find some lost allies there.”_ **

That allowed Gavin a little hope. Maybe some people that had been lost on the front lines were actually being held there, rather than have been destroyed or reprogrammed. “High risk, huh? Okay, I’ll keep that in mind. Hopefully I can work with Connor to figure out what we can do with this intel. When do you transfer across?”

**_“In 72 hours. They are rotating in several RK900s as part of the new guard postings, which makes me think that something of high value is either there already or about to be shipped in. You might want to make your move before I’m transferred.”_ **

“Stop trying to convince me not to rescue you, you asshole! I’m not gonna leave someone I care about so much without a fucking fight!” Gavin shouted, only just catching what he’d said after it slipped out. He slumped down in defeat and looked away guiltily. This wasn’t how he’d wanted to tell Nines the truth – it was meant to be a confession for when Nines was free.

**_“Gavin!”_ **

Nines’ voice was muffled and it caused Gavin’s attention to snap back to the ice, amazed that he’d picked up the sound. Oh how he’d wished for so long to hear it again, over two years at this point, but seeing how the ice began to glow in preparation for another refreeze had Gavin’s systems aching. They were out of time again. His eyes instead rose to Nines’, seeing the swirling emotions there. **_“You’re not the only one who cares. I’m not going to give up, I want to hear those words in the outside world. Keep fighting.”_ **

At that point Nines’ swimming movements ground to a halt and angre rose up through Gavin as he watched his partner be enveloped within the code again. Barely a second later Nines’ eyes were closed again and he was still, lost to the suppression patch’s attempts to keep him contained. No matter how far Nines got though, he was always that step short of being free from his mind palace. 

He wasn’t going to manage it on his own – Jericho had to find the key to freeing all of their people, somehow. There were so many that they needed to save; and Gavin needed Nines back. 

“I won’t give up, I promise.”

* * *

Gavin had barely pulled out from the interface with Nines and made it back to cover before he opened a communication line with Jericho, knowing that he needed to pass on all of the intel that Nines had shared. This might be the lucky break they’d been searching for – so far all of their leads had brought them to dead ends and their efforts at decrypting the cypher were getting more hopeless by the day. Maybe this could give them a helping hand.

Connor, Simon and Chloe all joined the line, along with Elijah and Hank who joined via a video link. Projections of all the androids popped up on Gavin’s HUD as he got himself settled into a small hovel on the shores of the river, knowing that it was somewhere that wouldn’t be discovered by CyberLife in the few minutes that he’d be there before he moved out. “Hey, so I just found out something that could be crucial from Nines,” Gavin started. “He’s about to get shifted to a research centre in the middle of Detroit, somewhere that was apparently used for this fucking reprogramming patch. Eli, can you bring up any info on this spot?”

He sent the coordinates through for the rest of those on the line to look at, but much to Gavin’s surprise it was Hank that spoke up first. **“I know that spot, it was a backstreet repair shop that a few of my contacts used up until early 2041. CyberLife chased them all out to establish their own store there, but a few of them wondered if CyberLife targeted it for all of the space beneath street level. It was linked to old smuggling tunnels, so you could manoeuvre a lot of gear without catching any attention.”**

[It would make sense as to why CyberLife poached the site then.]  Connor added coolly. [Elijah, do you know anything about this location?]

“ _Not off the top of my head, but that’s what I can look through the CyberLife records for. If there’s anything listed electronically, I can pull it up,”_ Elijah replied while Gavin could hear his fingers getting to work on a laptop.

[It is listed as CyberLife property on the internet, mainly aimed at software fixes and any minor repair works needed. Since the mass reprogramming of 2041, however, it has been shut to public use and is instead reserved for business clientele only.] Chloe informed them.

Simon added from his own searches. 

**“I smell horseshit, that’s way too much traffic for somewhere that’s not in public use. No way CyberLife private clients cause enough business to merit that amount of shipping,”** Hank growled.

“Nines told me that he’s being deployed there for security and ‘experimentation’,” Gavin told them angrily. “He reckons that he might be sent there as he’s trying to break through the patch, seems that it’s tied to software instability levels. When it gets too high, he gets reset within his own mind palace but it’s not holding. Nines has a bit more freedom every time I go back there.”

[That sounds very familiar, of when I was a machine.]  Connor’s tone was hollow, as it often was when it came to memories from the android revolution. [It wouldn’t surprise me if Nines is correct in his guess of the software instabilities. If he’s based on my experiences and the code was initially developed from the RK800 line, he could be more vulnerable to deviancy. I was most of the way to deviant before that final push from Markus.]

“There’s something else that Nines said which has me curious, though. Apparently there are ‘high risk’ androids being locked up there. Any idea what that could mean?”

[Hank and I’s studies of the documents from that briefcase you acquired did mention a holding unit for androids that were deemed too high profile to be redeployed in public.]  Simon chipped in. [That would match some of what we’ve managed to find. 

[Markus and Josh haven’t been seen since the mass reprogramming along with a few of the ST200 models, as well as other prominent android campaigners. Could that be why we’ve not managed to find any information at all about them? There haven’t even been any credible sightings on the internet?] Chloe wondered. 

_“It’s a plausible theory, and what I’ve managed to find here would back that up,”_ Elijah said. _“In the board level ghost drives, I’ve found some blueprints of android stasis chambers that are meant for long term cycles. They could be storing any androids that are too well known within this unit until they’ve managed to quell Jericho. Once the resistance is over, then there wouldn’t be anyone questioning whether these androids are a risk or not.”_

“What about the supposed experimentation, Eli? Anything about what they might do to Nines if he gets shifted there?” Gavin asked fearfully.

 _“There’s nothing here about what is being carried out, Gavin, but we know that CyberLife doesn’t keep their most sensitive data on file anymore. It’s all paper copies to prevent any sort of hacking. The most likely scenario is that all of the research is being kept on a localised system outside of the main CyberLife grid – it would also explain why I haven’t found anything more about the suppression cypher in the CyberLife intranet,”_ Elijah theorised. 

[Either way, it sounds like we should pay this site a visit.]  Connor decided.  [Gavin, you’re already on the outskirts of Detroit. Can you perform some reconnaissance to give an infiltration team a way in?]

“Way ahead of you, I’m already in the river and moving to find a secure route,” Gavin called through the line as he dove into the water, moving swiftly through the murky depths. “Androids might be vulnerable to whatever security CyberLife has in place here though, I’d suggest adding only people that are skilled in close combat or humans to this team. Depends on what you guys can learn from the CCTV footage and blueprints.”

[Let me worry about the squad that will be joining you, we’ll need to plan this carefully. Give us an update when you can and we’ll get to work on a team.]

“Copy that.” Gavin then disconnected from the conversation and instead brought up a map to lead him to his destination. He wasn’t going to be much help with getting a team together, but he knew this wouldn’t be the last time they’d be at this spot. The rest of the Jericho inner circle knew that Gavin wasn’t willingly going to leave Nines inside there, this was as much an intelligence mission as it was to learn what they could about the truth of this ‘repair shop’ before attempting any sort of rescue…if it was possible.

Unfortunately Gavin knew that Nines was right in what he’d said before. No-one could stand up to an RK900 that was part of the Jericho resistance: all of the combat focused models had fallen foul of the mass reprogramming and were on the wrong side of their war now. Connor might be able to slow Nines down or give him half a fight with the element of surprise, but there was no way that Gavin could ask Connor to risk himself for that. He was leading Jericho now, and rescuing Nines was possibly a suicide mission.

That was a discussion for another time though. For now…Gavin had some recon to be carrying out.

* * *

“What the actual fuck are you doing here, Connor?! Are you crazy?” Gavin had been stunned when Connor turned up at the scene with North, Chris and three other humans who were part of Jericho. While they didn’t have many human friends, those that were part of their cause were some of the most fiercely loyal allies that you could ever find. This trio were all former military personnel whose android lovers had been lost along with everyone else, and were among the few humans that North trusted on their most sensitive missions. 

For this one, Gavin was sure that the extra human hands would be of help, but that didn’t explain what **Connor** was doing there.

The RK800 just raised an eyebrow at Gavin. “What? Just cause I’m leading Jericho doesn’t mean I get to stay under the lake and ask everyone to risk their lives,” he pointed out. “Besides, I’ve got the most advanced hacking software outside of all the upgrades that Elijah has given to Chloe – and there was no way that Elijah or North would ever let her into danger, so I’m the next best thing.”

“Fuck’s sake…this isn’t a good idea, but I’m never gonna change your mind. I’ve learned that the hard way,” Gavin growled while looking to the others. “North I’m not surprised to see out here, but Chris? Isn’t this dangerous for you while you’re still employed at the DPD?”

Chris’ eyes shadowed over. “Not anymore. Fowler got told last week to reduce his human staff to minimum levels; Tina and I talked it over and we figured she’d raise the least suspicions if she stayed on the inside, she’s a bit more hardened to the shit that goes on there nowadays compared to me. She’ll hold the fort down. My family’s already partially moved down south to get clear, so I’m a free agent.

“Plus, we’ve been friends for long enough. I’m not just gonna watch when I can help,” the human answered, to which Gavin flashed him an incredibly grateful smile. He was very thankful that Chris was so accepting of androids and how the new reality around Gavin didn’t change their friendship. Not many people would have come to terms with it so easily.

“Thanks,” Gavin told him earnestly before locking eyes with North. She just winked at him while tossing Gavin a backpack filled with weapons. Pistols, a semi-automatic rifle, along with some flashbangs and grenades, all topped off with a bulletproof vest. A perfect mini-armoury for if shit hit the fan. Gavin started to gear himself up while looking at Connor. “All right, so what’s the plan here? Did you guys manage to learn anything else about this place?”

“Only a little more,” Connor told Gavin as their team took up watch positions. “Elijah has managed to find a personnel roster for this location and it is in fact very small. The top level is indeed a front for a research and testing facility, but it spans almost a full city block underground. It turns out that the smuggling network was intricate and vast, nestled between the sewage system from former years. There’s no way that we’ll be able to infiltrate the full facility without a much larger team, but we’re hopeful that we can carry out a covert op to sneak inside. I can initiate a massive download of the local network while we’re doing a quick sweep of the facility.”

That sounded like a sound enough plan. “Okay. You think what Nines said about ‘high risk’ androids could be legit?”

“It seems very likely, in fact. Many android stasis units from CyberLife tower were transferred here only a month before the mass reprogramming, so it seems that CyberLife had planned this out well in advance. The transfer of 50 units in a time where androids were free and it would have been illegal for CyberLife to force anyone into stasis is highly irregular,” Connor told Gavin helpfully. “Now that we know just how much CyberLife was dealing under the table, Elijah knows where to look for records.”

Even now, Gavin was impressed with what his brother could find when he was really looking. It was a shame they’d not thought of any of this before the whole world went to shit…but there was no point in dwelling on that. All they could do was change where they went from there. “Okay, so it sounds like they’re not gonna have too many people locked inside then. We gonna try busting them out?”

“Not today, it’s too dangerous with only the seven of us,” Connor said sadly. “I wish we could pull them out but it isn’t an option.”

“What about just one?” Both Gavin and Connor spun to look at North curiously. She then went on with her thought. “It might not be easy, but I reckon we could steal one person back with us so long as we don’t get busted. If everyone here is being kept in long-term stasis, there’s a good chance that they’re not being checked on. It could be weeks or months before they find out that anyone’s missing.”

Connor and Gavin then looked between each other. “It’s not a bad thought, and we might be able to find out from their logs what tests CyberLife has been carrying out. Just becomes a question of whether we’d be able to do it without risking Jericho,” Connor decided. “We wouldn’t be able to take the pod too.”

“Depending on who it is, they might not be so much of a danger. Someone like Nines would be a massive risk as he’s designed for combat, but one of the ST200s? They’d be a lot easier as they were designed for household tasks. North would know about Chloe’s specs better than me, but I don’t think they’d be any danger,” Gavin suggested.

“They wouldn’t be, Gavin’s right,” North smiled. “Chloe was designed and programmed only for basic household maintenance, the ST200s were exactly the same. Even if we took them out of stasis, they wouldn’t harm other deviants as that’s not part of their programming. In theory almost anyone would be low risk, and we can keep a constant watch of them. Jericho wouldn’t be in danger.”

Everyone waited as Connor weighed up the dangers in his head before nodding. “All right, so long as the opportunity is there we’ll see about sneaking one person back but that is a **low** priority task. Our main mission is to obtain all of the data from the localised network and see if there are any paper documents that we might be able to steal to combat the reprogramming cypher to free everyone else. After that we can then turn our attention to extracting someone.”

The rest of the team nodded at Connor’s orders, after which he relayed the infiltration plan to Gavin. They purposefully picked humans for this operation as they wouldn’t show on any scanners that Elijah had discovered were wired around the whole complex to stop any androids from attempting to sneak in. Once they disarmed all of the guards and set up an EMP charge to knock out the power long enough for Connor, Gavin and North to sneak inside, then they would split up depending on their primary tasks.

It was a sound enough plan based on what Gavin had seen in his eight hours of watching. At the moment there were only four android guards, one SQ800 and three AP700s, while the rest of the contingent was human. He pinged over the last known spots for the androids to the team at large before they settled in for more surveillance, waiting for a moment to strike.

That came after another 30 minutes when the rotation finally changed. New eyes on the scene meant that there was a plausible reason for a group of four humans to appear out of the blue at the start of the stint, and they then had a ready made excuse of having approached earlier with the previous guards. In the confusion and wariness, that was when they were all planning to make their move. 

Connor and North both split apart with a silenced sniper rifle each, setting up in different vantage points for any long distance company while Gavin crept up to just outside the range of the scanners. He was currently standing up against the outer wall while fiddling on his phone, looking like a little less out of place. While not many humans wandered the streets nowadays, the braver souls still took to the streets despite the danger of being caught in a fight on the streets. They were a lot fewer than they used to be at least, which made Gavin’s cover believable. 

Not to mention that Connor had brought along Gavin’s old DPD leather jacket just so that he blended in a little more. That was more than a little weird and both of them had a moment of recollection at seeing Gavin in his old jacket before the android flipped his hood up to keep his face off CCTV. The less chance of anyone in their group being recognised if they went trawling through the footage later, the better. 

Gavin waited patiently as Connor and North both relayed updates via the android network, listening carefully to how Chris’ team was getting on. They’d successfully managed to make contact with the guards and state that they were returning for a meeting with the building manager. When the expected question of no booked appointment came up, Chris smoothly passed on their lie about having the same issue with the previous guards.

In the moment of confusion and disarray, that was when their team struck. From his vantage point behind the wall Gavin lobbed two flashbangs over using the trajectories calculated by Connor and passed via the network. He could hear the shouts of confusion from the guards as the projectiles went off, accompanied by the startled yelps as each person was brought down by one of their human companions.

Zips whistled through the air as Connor and North both let loose with their snipers, disabling the androids that were also on patrol with precision headshots. By this point they knew well how to instantly cripple an android without the damage being fatal, and Gavin knew Connor wouldn’t want to waste lives. Once the courtyard was silent Gavin was tempted to peek across and see how their squad mates were faring, but Chris’ voice soon came through the mental link via his radio. **_“Jammer’s up and running, you’ve got 174 seconds to get over here and inside!”_ **

Taking their cue the trio of androids advanced, stalking across to join the others outside the tinted windows of the supposed store. At first appearance it seemed to indeed be a repair store (much like they were before the revolution) but the fact there was no-one around was a large clue as to the façade. Connor hacked the door and it soon beeped open, allowing their team entrance inside.

While the unconscious and disabled bodies of the guards were brought into the foyer, and the humans were bound, Connor interfaced with another monitor behind the counter to see what information he could pull. “I’ve looped some earlier security footage and set it to override the live feed. Chris, you can deactivate the jammer now,” he commanded. Chris immediately went back outside to retrieve their tech from the front door, and once he was back inside North reset the display of the hologlass to show the store was closed. That should stop anyone else from approaching.

“All right, you guys set on your tasks?” North asked of their human companions as Gavin searched the room for what could be a secret entrance to the facility that they knew was beneath them. 

“Yep. Ransack this place to make it look like a bungled robbery,” Chris smirked. “We’ll replace the guards outside to let you know if anyone’s getting too curious while we tear this place apart. You three gonna be all right in the layers below?”

Connor disengaged from the monitor and pinged Gavin his scans of the room, highlighting two potential entrances for their team to investigate. “We should be fine, the blueprints I’ve pulled up indicate there are no other android-specific countermeasures,” Connor assured him while collapsing his sniper rifle. It was then stashed back inside Connor’s backpack as he was then passed another weapon by North from her own supplies. “The thickness of the stonework beneath will make radio contact impossible though, so use only our headsets to stay in contact. Keep yourselves safe.”

“On it, Connor,” Chris saluted. “Good luck.”

As their human companions split up to start the cover up for the android raid, North came to join Gavin at one side of the room as Connor scanned the other. “Anything interesting?” she asked while taking a closer look at how Gavin was trying to pry a display case away from the wall. 

“This thing’s bolted on tight but Connor’s scans gave away that the wall’s hollow behind it,” he growled while kicking at the side in frustration. “No mechanism to open it from this side though and it looks like I can’t get enough purchase to pry it open. Don’t think we’re getting in this way.”

“Might be the one-in, one-out system that I’ve seen in a few other CyberLife lockups,” North told him while also trying to get enough of a grip to pull the hidden door open. “Two doors, but they’re both one way entrances only. Damn,” she hissed when part of the cabinet then broke apart in her hands. “Fuck this, we’re not getting in this way. Let’s see if Connor’s had more luck on his side.”

Connor had, in fact, achieved much more. He’d managed to find a scanner that allowed entrance to the levels below and hacked it successfully just as the other two androids approached. They watched as the wall panel with adverts for the sale deviancy-proof androids retracted into the floor, revealing a very old and mould infested tunnel that led down below the street level. “Charming,” Gavin scoffed. “Just as well we’re not human, I’d dread to think of what infections you’d get from these walls.”

“Indeed. Stay sharp,” Connor instructed as they trio the descended down, all armed for the task ahead. While Connor and North were ready with their guns, Gavin kept flashbangs on standby. Stealth was critical for them here, they needed to make sure nobody got an alarm off. As they reached the bottom of the concealed staircase, North managed to pry a maintenance panel from the wall to allow Connor to interface with it. The RK800 then hacked into the security software of the level below and retrieved the recording data from the previous two hours to set on a loop.

“Footage is looping, we should be invisible,” Connor confirmed as Gavin plugged in a tablet and linked it to a wireless booster which would take data from the local network. The panel was then closed again, but the tablet was showing the trio the genuine images from the security cameras. They could use it to track where the guards within the complex were patrolling, but it was soon clear that there weren’t many people on this level. That would make their lives a little easier.

“Which way, Connor? Did you manage to find somewhere that was likely to be a place we could hack?” Gavin asked, to which Connor nodded.

“There are three options, all are offices with computers hardwired to localised networks. I wasn’t able to see anything about what data was held on each of them, so I’d say that the three of them are as good a place as any to start,” the android leader stated as they all looked at the tablet footage. Connor then transmitted to the other two some blueprints for the facility and pinged the trio of locations. “Let’s see what we can find on each of these computers.”

It turned out that the facility was an absolute goldmine for the androids. Each computer contained data that implicated CyberLife not only for how long they’d been plotting the mass reprogramming of all the androids, but also how they’d funded the president’s campaign with the explicit purpose of eradicating their kind. It had been a marriage made in hell which they’d come very close to achieving – but this evidence would give the androids a chance once they managed to free their own people.

With two computers down it was clear that it would take a great deal of time to sift through all of the data that Connor was storing both internally and on external drives, but they couldn’t help but feel excited. There had to be something here that could help them. 

As they made it to the final room, it was clear to see that this was somewhere important. Just like the first facility that Gavin had broken into, this was an old fashioned door with no electronic lock. Something that only a key could access and impervious to hacking? This was where CyberLife almost earmarked anything deemed very high risk. 

North managed to pick the lock after a few tries and the trio slipped inside, locking it again behind them. Gavin felt an immense sense of déjà vu at seeing another scene so similar to the one from months ago and it had his mind awhirl. “This is a carbon copy of where I stole the previous cypher data from,” Gavin told his companions. “I’d say we’re in the right place.”

“Sounds like this spot might be linked to what you found before then – might even be designed by the same bastard,” North said while looking through the drawers of the desk as Connor interfaced with the computer. “Did you find any secret spots before that might be hiding something now?”

Thinking back to his panic from before, Gavin remembered about the safe and wandered to the mirror location in this version of the room. He froze for a second at seeing the exact one from before in this room now: it was easy to tell from the micro etchings that he’d made before running for his life last time. “Son of a bitch, this is the safe I couldn’t take with me from the facility,” Gavin muttered while brushing his fingers over the lock. Right now he was **really** wishing that he could interface again, it sucked that he wasn’t able to help more.

“The one that you found with the briefcase?” Connor asked while continuing his download. “Any chance of us breaking into it?”

“It’s a combination of electronic and physical locks, it wouldn’t be a quick one,” Gavin clarified while looking for any weak points with the hinges and door. No luck, all of the mechanisms were concealed internally. “I think we should take this thing with us.”

North scowled from the desk. “That safe’s fucking huge, we’d need to carry it out and there’s no way we could then take a person with us too. Only one of us would be armed then and it’s too dangerous.” Neither of the other two argued back against her, it was a harsh truth about bringing so few people on an operation. They only had so many pairs of hands and they needed to be prepared for the worst.

“Let me see if there’s anyone within easy reach in this facility, then we can make a choice,” Connor decided while extracting more directories from the hard drive. It didn’t take him long to find one about their research and his face morphed to a harsh scowl. “Nines was right, they are keeping ‘high risk’ androids here – more specifically anyone who is in danger of breaking through the suppression patch.”

“So CyberLife is using those androids as test subjects to keep the patch effective?” North snarled.

“Mostly. There’s a lot of data here about why the patch didn’t affect everyone when it was first released: that was what CyberLife was trying to do, but it failed in some models,” Connor told them with mild shock on his face, which caught both North and Gavin off guard. 

“Wait, CyberLife actually tried to reprogram everyone? That means some models broke through it without being aware, like me?” North whispered. 

“No offense meant here, North, but if they managed to get models as secure as Markus, Connor and Nines right, there’s no reason why some of our people slipped through the net. I get the feeling that there’s more to this story,” Gavin stated bluntly. 

Connor was silent for a moment as he absorbed the revelation and he turned to Gavin seriously. “CyberLife targeted every android officially on record, but it only took in 85.13% of the population. We need to learn why,” he declared while stopping the interface with the monitor. “I think we’re going to need you for bringing everyone back.”

Gavin let out a sigh of irritation. “Goddammit Connor you know that I want to, but Eli’s not letting me interface with anyone! Without that I’m not gonna be able to do anything to try and bring others back!” he exclaimed. “Do you not think I would jump at the chance and attempt to save Nines if I could?!”

“I know, but this has changed the game. Every single android in existence was given that patch from CyberLife…except you.” Gavin froze as he absorbed that revelation. “That means they’re able to get into the programming of everyone else ever built. Even once we managed to find a way to combat the suppression cypher no-one else would be safe to have that code within them in case CyberLife found a way to patch it out with another update. For all we know, they’ll just try the same thing again once they work out what failed with everyone else.”

“Fuck, so I’m the only one truly off the grid? **Shit!** ” Gavin couldn’t help himself and punched the safe in frustration, letting some of his anger and helplessness at the situation slip out. Unbeknownst to Gavin, North reached a hand out and placed it on Connor’s arm, stopping him from saying any more. He gave her a nod as she stepped up to Gavin, making sure he was looking at her before she spoke.

“We both know Elijah’s going to find a way to allow you to interface again, and this just makes it a priority. This means you’ll be able to help Nines,” she tried to comfort, but Gavin just let out a harsh laugh.

“At what fucking cost, North? I’ve got enough people that think I’m a freak android without knowing my past, how the fuck is this going to make it any easier?! I’ve been trying to avoid something like this since day fucking one!” He snatched his arm away from North’s tentative grip and stormed to the side of the room, letting out a harsh sigh. “If I’m the only one that is safe to test this goddamn countermeasure on, then it means I’m also the one who can transfer it to everyone, right?”

Gavin spun and stared at his two companions, hoping that either of them could say something to say otherwise to Gavin but he knew it was a faint hope. Right now they were all reeling from the shocking knowledge that they’d just uncovered, but this wasn’t the time to make plans. Escape first, freak out second, then try to take stock last.

“We’re not going to be able to work anything out right now,” Connor said gently, not wanting to spook an already frightened and stressed Gavin even more. If Gavin had an LED it would surely have been fixed at red and Connor’s software was estimating that Gavin’s stress levels were already in the mid-eighties. “What this means is that we’ve been missing a massive part of this puzzle all along, and it might be here amongst all of the secrets hidden in this room.”

Connor then stared at the other two seriously. “The plan’s changed – North, grab every single piece of paper you can find and rifle through all of the books. We need everything that could possibly tie to this research. Gavin, test the weight of that safe and see if you can carry it safely. Bringing that out and back to Jericho is now crucial.”

Neither of the other androids argued and set about their tasks while Connor went back and interfaced with the computer once more. Gavin’s eyes widened when he realised that Connor was wiping everything on the hard drive: so much for subtlety now, clearly he’d seen something on there that made Connor worried enough to try and cripple CyberLife from what had supposedly been a stealth mission. “What else did you see in there, Connor?” Gavin asked before he moved towards the safe.

The haunted look on Connor’s face was something that Gavin hadn’t seen in over two years, and it was something he’d hoped never to lay eyes on again. Whatever it was…it had Connor **terrified**. “We can’t let them continue this research,” he stated severely. “At least if I destroy all of this, hopefully they’ll have to retrace their steps before they get any closer to working out the bugs in the suppression software. If nothing else it buys us time to figure out our next move.”

With that, the trio then set about trying to steal everything they could before they had to escape. Gavin and Connor managed to wiggle the safe out from the wall together, before Gavin tested the weight to make sure he could pick it up safely. It was definitely heavy at just shy of 260 pounds overall, but within the safe range of his lifting capacity. That was the best case scenario with North and Connor both carrying a serious amount of weapons, papers and every data drive that they could find within the room. 

It took almost 30 minutes for them to clear out the contents and be ready to move out, but that then presented the next challenge of making it to the exit. North’s assumption from earlier had been correct in that the doors were built as one-way entrances, the previous entryway having slammed shut behind them as descended before. With Gavin’s hands full it fell to North to become their navigator on the way out, with Connor covering their six.

With the camera feeds it meant that they could evade the guards safely, but the difficulties came when the exit was next to a series of labs which had windows opening out into the corridor. That meant they couldn’t just make a straight run for it, they had to duck down and try to stealth their way across.

Of course, it had to be when they were moving such a large and heavy safe!

Shuffling it along the floor wasn’t an option as it would scrape and draw attention, but there was no way any of them could carry it while crouching, they weren’t built for those loads. In the end the only choice the trio had was to place the safe down upon one of their bodies while the other two androids pushed or pulled them along the floor. Since Connor had the strongest chassis, he volunteered to be the one to take the weight.

North kept on point and pulled Connor along as best she could while Gavin pushed Connor’s feet as he kept a gun pointed behind them. The guards weren’t their worry now, it was any scientists that decided it would be a good time to make a quick coffee or needed to move between laboratories. Even with their android strength, it was very difficult for them to shift Connor along the floor. It was taking the combination of North pulling with Connor hauling himself forward, and Gavin pushing while Connor kicked off his hands to even advance a few inches. 

Those ten metres to the end of the corridor felt like an age.

The stress was evident on all of their faces once they’d finally made it past the danger and they quickly reset to make it up the stairs. Gavin’s system stuttered at seeing the blue blood which was leaking from Connor’s chassis to his clothes: while the majority of his plates had taken the strain, some of those which were already weakened from years of fighting hadn’t held up so well and cracked with the weight of the safe. It was minor repair work at least, but it always hurt to see someone so close to him damaged.

Connor nodded that he was fine as the trio then worked their way up the stairs, taking the weight between them to get clear of the research facility. 

Their human companions were waiting and armed for when they saw the door open, but North held out a thumbs up for them to know it was friendlies coming up before emerging with the safe. According to plan, the fake store on the surface level had been well and truly trashed. It was safe to say that most of the attention would be up here for time, hopefully it would be a while before anyone worked out what had truly been stolen – and more importantly by who.

Now came the hardest part: getting out of Detroit.

All of the Jericho team had come across using a car that was parked up in an alleyway not far away. Humans were able to move freely, and the trunk was fortified to hide anything metal from scanning checkpoints that were on all of the major routes out. Connor and North had been hiding inside there for their journey in, but now they needed that to conceal the safe for the return leg. 

Which meant the trio of androids needed to find another way out of the city.

“There’s enough room for one person to get in alongside that safe,” Chris confirmed after they’d secured it in the trunk. “Would it be easier to move as a duo or trio?”

“Definitely a duo, we can potentially just steal a bike with two of us. We passed a few locked up on the way here,” North stated with a grin. 

Connor’s attention turned to the exit of the alley and his eyes fixed on a group that were chatting there. Gavin recognised the look and got the same feeling that Connor was no doubt having: groups always spelt trouble in Detroit nowadays, be it common thugs or undercover operatives for CyberLife. They had to move. Taking the decision on their next course of action, Connor interfaced with North and she sent over the location of the motorcycles that she’d seen. 

“North, go with them and make it back to Jericho via the roads. Gavin and I will steal a bike and try to navigate across the river. I’ll ping you a location once we’ve safely made the crossing.” While North looked like she wanted to argue, she recognised the look on Connor’s face and decided against it. There was urgency there and it was clear to see. She simply nodded and the group worked together to get her inside the compartment while removing the licence plates for now. They’d reattach them later before the checkpoint, but if they’d been made now they had to go as anonymous as possible until then.

Once North was set up the group quickly piled into the car and took off, leaving only Connor and Gavin behind. Their allies had taken everything that had been found in the research facility and left only the weapons with Connor and Gavin, at least giving the pair a way to fight their way out of trouble.

In a really weird way, this twisted situation reminded Gavin of his days with Nines in the DPD. It wouldn’t have been unknown for them to just bust into danger headfirst with the terminator of an android at his side, getting a few scrapes but always coming out the other side with some perps in custody and maybe a couple of scars as trophies.

How Gavin wished it was Nines at his side instead of Connor, and that they were back even three years ago. Life had been a hell of a lot simpler and less dangerous then.

“Hey, you two!”

The voice from the end of the alley had Connor and Gavin sharing a look, but Gavin recognised that steely eyes determination. Some things were common between predecessor and successor, and this one was a welcome reminder.

Time to fight their way out, and get back those good old days. 

Without waiting to see how the situation would develop, the two androids took off at a run towards the first of the locations that North had flagged for them, not missing how they were suddenly being chased. Their instincts had been right, the company was not welcome. At least they were all human: that would make escaping a lot easier than if they were being chased by something like the RK900s.

[North, we’re being hunted! Make sure to tear off the top layer of the wrapping on the car to change the colour before you reattach the plates, you’ve probably been made.]

**[Copy that, good luck. Don’t get yourselves killed!]**

The brief conversation between Connor and North ended as Gavin brought out a pistol and shot out the chain which was holding the motorcycle in place. Both androids quickly took up position upon the vehicle – Connor driving with Gavin sitting on the rear – before racing off in a flash. They knew it wouldn’t be long before company reached them, but at least if all of the attention was on them then the rest of their team could get away.

Five minutes later brought about sirens and both of them swore at seeing it was DPD vehicles that were chasing them. While they had no reservations about scrapping CyberLife mercenaries that were hired to hunt down the deviants, their old loyalties meant that Connor and Gavin were always reluctant to be too deadly with their aim. That made life a lot more difficult. 

Connor knew they had to get out from the centre of the city and headed towards a highway that was headed south, in the complete wrong direction from their final destination but Gavin knew what he was up to. There was an old recycling centre along this way, one where the piping connected to the river. It was somewhere that the deviants had used before in their many escapes from the city and would provide the perfect misdirect for them to try and disappear.

Once they reached the highway, both Connor and Gavin worked together to allow Gavin to swing around and face behind him on the motorcycle. Balancing wasn’t the easiest but Gavin managed to wedge his legs underneath Connor’s own so that he had a more stable base; he was going to need it for when the shooting started. Connor passed back his disassembled sniper rifle while retrieving a carabiner within his backpack and latching both backpacks together. It wasn’t much, but it gave Gavin another contact point for when things inevitably got dicey.

Sure enough, they didn’t need to wait long.

Two squad cars pulled onto the highway behind them and Gavin didn’t hesitate to take aim at the tyres, hoping to blow them out and take both service vehicles out of action. One spun out relatively quickly but the other returned fire, which meant Connor needed to take evading action through what little traffic there was. It didn’t provide them with much cover but it made them a much harder target to hit.

As it was, Gavin still yelped when two bullets tore into his side.

He could see the red which was glistening in the street lights above as they drove onwards but now wasn’t the time to fuss with it. Elijah had thirium back at the Jericho base, Gavin could hold on until then. All he had to do was try not to get shot too many more times. Part of his mind couldn’t help but wonder if this was something Elijah could fix or it would be part of the endless list of workarounds that were now in operation in his body.

That was something to be worried about later though. Right now, Gavin and Connor had to escape.

Knowing he was out of options, Gavin shot for the windshield and purposefully went for the space between both of the front seats. The shock made the driver of the car swerve and Gavin took the opportunity to shoot out the driver side window when it became exposed. He watched as the car peeled off out of the firing line and Connor took the opportunity to accelerate away from their pursuers. It gave them a small window of time before more company arrived to make it to their drop point. 

[Gavin, we need to leap in 1344 metres. I’m pinging you our entry point into the pipe network.]

The new spot on Gavin’s HUD pinged into view and he tapped Connor’s side to acknowledge the message while reaching back to unclip the carabiner between them. That was going to be a hazard for when they made the jump. Just as it was coming to the point where the highway split as part of an intersection, another police car started shooting at the androids from above. 

Gavin and Connor both jumped as several shots came way too close for comfort but Connor then spied an armoured bus which was just ahead. He floored the accelerator to allow them to pull up alongside it and get them out of view just as they reached the jump. An alert went off in Gavin’s view as Connor slammed the motorcycle into the side of the road, giving them enough momentum to go flying over it and into the dark waterway below. The vehicle burst into flames from the crash, and the resulting chain reaction led to so many crashes that it made state-wide news.

By the time the DPD caught up and saw where the androids had gone missing, Gavin and Connor were long since lost to the waters below.

* * *

They managed to take a break once they’d floated down the river to the first point that Connor thought was safe, but it had been hard going. The icy temperatures had caused them a few problems and they often had to stop just long enough to allow their thirium and biocomponents to thaw out – at least they’d been prepared enough to have wet suits on. What they hadn’t accounted for was Gavin being shot and the water seeping into his systems.

He knew Elijah was liable to throw a fit when they made it back, but it hadn’t exactly been Gavin’s idea of fun to get shot in the first place.

Once they made it onto the embankment Connor pulled out an instant heat pack and snapped it to set off the chemical reaction. After giving it a few seconds to heat up, Connor then tore the gel pack open and poured it into Gavin’s wounds. Gavin jolted violently at the sudden influx of heat and a foreign substance in his systems, but it was a good call. He wasn’t anywhere near as resilient as Connor and already some biocomponents were damaged from freezing, at least that would stop things from getting any worse.

The worst of the shock and pain subsided quickly and Gavin collapsed against the snow, breathing hard. Connor too was trying to heat his systems back up and Gavin could see the steam which was appearing from his mouth as he pushed his biocomponents to the point of overheating to get his temperatures back up. “Could have warned me you were gonna crash the bike,” he huffed out, causing Connor to laugh.

“We needed something to draw the DPD’s attention long enough to allow us to swim away. A multi car pile-up was the best idea I had at the time,” Connor smiled resignedly, laughing when Gavin swatted his arm.

“And you call me a fucking nutcase. You’re off your head,” Gavin chuckled before looking down to his side. It was still bleeding steadily, though now the thirium was tinged with the clear gel of the torn heating pack that was still left inside the wound. He reached in to tear open his shirt and wet suit more, allowing Gavin to open his panel and try to access the source of the bleeding. “I can’t cut this leak off, it’s in a subsystem that’s too badly damaged. Think you can clamp it off manually?” 

Connor nodded and sat up, allowing him to reach inside and fiddle with a few switches that controlled Gavin’s thirium diversion protocols. Some of it was broken, taped up or the latches were snapped, but Connor managed to find a path which allowed the thirium to bypass that particular damaged cable. Elijah would be able to do more once they made it back, but at least Gavin wasn’t going to bleed out before then. “I don’t think I’m even going to get used to seeing you as an android,” Connor admitted after he was finished and closed Gavin’s chassis.

“Don’t blame you for all the years that you knew me as human,” Gavin huffed. “I miss those days of where I was just anybody, not…not who I am now.”

Hearing the despondency in Gavin’s voice, Connor pushed himself to his feet and offered a hand to Gavin. “For the record, you’re still the same asshole I’ve always known. Whether you’re human or android changes nothing for me.”

A loud laugh tore itself from Gavin’s throat and he smiled up at Connor as he took the android’s hand. Sometimes he forgot that many of Jericho’s inner circle didn’t see him any differently despite the shocking change of perception relating to Gavin, but few of them knew as much as Connor did. The fact he just accepted Gavin as he was…it was a feeling he’d been missing for too long.

Now they just had to find a way to bring back the last person that had made Gavin feel as at home within himself.

“Thanks, Con. Now, how's about we see to tearing CyberLife apart?”


	10. 18th December, 2041

Gavin was thankful for quiet days at the DPD now. They didn’t come along that often, but this was one of them.

Ever since their new president had taken office, there had been barely a quiet day in Detroit. Following his anti-android promises, he’d been set for a collision course with Jericho and all of their supporters; it had been inevitable, really. 

As such, it was common to see rallies out on the streets every day. It had almost become a part of Gavin’s everyday duties to now be coordinating some of the security details to make sure nothing got out of hand on either side of the protests, which he hated. Strangely enough, he missed the days of just chasing down their mundane perps. What he would give to just leg it after some kid that tried to pinch some vodka – that was what he really needed.

With their current climate though? No chance of that happening any time soon.

Over the months the protests had been growing in numbers, but thankfully were a lot more peaceful than some had feared. He remembered well the ones that took place in his teenage years, back when there were so many standing up to racial inequality, and the later ones which arose when many of the social laws were threatening to be changed because of religion interfering with law and ‘morals’. They hadn’t seen any protests for a few years before android freedoms complicated the equation all the more, so maybe this was just long overdue.

Funny how people took things like peace for granted until it all went to shit.

They were just at the end of another long day, but at least this one was less dramatic. Gavin and Nines were in the precinct all day, unusually, helping Hank and Connor with another march that was planned for tomorrow. What made this one so high risk was that it involved some of the most senior members of Jericho, Markus and company included, so they needed to make sure security was tighter than ever.

“We got all the routes locked down for tomorrow, yeah?” Gavin asked while grabbing his backpack and swinging it over his shoulder. 

“Yes, everything should be set now,” Nines confirmed as he turned to look at Connor and Hank discussing something deeply at their desks. “I’m not convinced that having me be part of the frontline security is the best idea though…”

“Nah, this is definitely a good thing,” the detective reassured while reaching for Nines’ hand briefly. “You heard what Connor said, yeah? Markus asked for you there, and wants you to be visible. I think it could be a good thing for your profile to be raised by him, much as I know you hate the spotlight. You don’t even have to do anything, Nines. Just, you know, be tall and scowly. Go into interrogation mode and you’ll be fine.”

Nines snorted in amusement and squeezed back briefly, grateful for the momentary reassurance before their hands drifted apart again. It was something that Gavin always missed whenever Nines pulled away, the warmth that he gave. Somewhere since the election the previous year and the 13 months of shit since, Gavin and Nines’ relationship had taken a distinct change.

It was a lot more physically affectionate, that was for sure. Ever since that first offering of his hand, Gavin had noticed that Nines sought it out frequently now. Not only that, but it wasn’t unusual for the two of them to share long hugs, be in each other’s orbits…more than one person had actually asked if the two of them were a couple. While the answer they always gave was a ‘no’, Gavin knew it was a lot more complicated than that.

Part of him, a very big part, actually, wished that they were. He just wasn’t convinced that Nines would want something explicitly romantic between them when they were so content with this physical friendship.

Gavin was starting to find it harder to resist the urge to admit everything to Nines, though. The fact that the android was about to potentially move in with him was a major complication neither of them needed, and was hastening Gavin’s thoughts in admitting the truth. Nines only had a month of his current lease left and needed somewhere new to live. Gavin had moved to a much larger apartment a few months ago (since he wanted a place away from the heart of the protests), and there would be more than enough space for the both of them there.

Not to mention that Nines was around almost every night already, and quite often stayed over. Really, the two of them were all but joined at the hip now and all but lived together already. Best friends with that hint of something more, but it had never been fully explored. 

It was part of the reason that Gavin felt he owed it to Nines in speaking what was on his mind. He didn’t just want Nines there as a roommate, he wanted the other man as something more – and if Nines didn’t want that, then it would only be fair to tell Nines while he had the chance to find other accommodation, if that’s what the android wanted.

Gavin wasn’t worried that confessing his feelings was going to break their friendship, they were honestly too close for that to be a concern. He knew that regardless of anything lingering beyond that level of connection would make things complicated, but that wasn’t ever going to change. It was kind of strange, he’d not been in this situation before. Gavin had been in a couple of relationships before, but they weren’t exactly functional. Hook-ups that evolved but then broke down again just as fast because there was no reasonable foundation to the pairing other than good sex.

This though? Gavin already knew that what he felt for Nines went well beyond anything else before then. While for a long time he’d thought it was just platonic love, he’d slowly come to the conclusion that it had evolved over time to something more along romantic lines.

Watching Nines as he locked up everything for the night, Gavin’s thoughts caught on their evolving relationship. Making a decision, he pulled out his phone to text Hank quickly and check what times he and Nines were needed the next day. While he knew what the plan was when it was conceived a couple of hours ago, there was no harm in checking.

**[Nines needs to be at Jericho for 8:30, you’ll be here for 9. Tina and Chris’ll be going with Nines to the march site while you, Con and I monitor this from here. Were you not paying attention to the briefing, Gavin?]**

[Shaddup, you know I was. Things have a bad habit of evolving right now, no harm in checking. What time are we projected to be off the clock?]

**[Fucking hell, I dunno? Maybe 7 if we’re lucky? Why?]**

[What’ll it take for you to make sure that Nines and I are off duty so long as the world doesn’t end tomorrow?]

**[Got plans tomorrow, Reed?]**

[Maybe. Don’t know yet.]

The lack of snark in that last answer must have resonated with Hank because he looked up from where his phone to stare at Gavin hard. Hank was someone that could read between the lines, Gavin was pretty damn sure that he and Connor had twigged there was something growing between Gavin and Nines. He had to wonder if the lieutenant was picking up on the real intent behind Gavin asking, or if he thought they would just need the night to decompress.

“You ready?”

Nines’ voice snapped Gavin out from his musings and he nodded in agreement. Both of them were out of the building and in Nines’ car before Gavin felt his phone buzz again, with one final message from Hank. The contents made him smile gratefully – that was one part of tomorrow sorted at least. 

**[So long as the world doesn’t blow up, you guys are good for tomorrow night. Rest up, tomorrow’s gonna be a shit storm.]**

_No kidding,_ Gavin thought, unaware of just how prophetic his own mind would prove to be.

* * *

Everything was relaxed at Gavin’s place that night. Knowing that the following day was going to be a menace, Gavin and Nines had planned for something simple and fun to unwind before everything else was meant to go down the next day. An early night after some good company.

What they didn’t expect was for Chloe to call Gavin via his tablet, and for everyone to be involved in a massive video chat for two hours. Nines tapped into the tablet so that it could be streamed to Gavin’s TV instead while they mounted the tablet nearby, allowing them to see the trio of Elijah, Chloe and North chilling out at the house. Gavin was secretly relieved that North moving in there hadn’t caused any major ramifications to Elijah and Chloe’s marriage, he had been worried. 

He had to wonder if he was getting to be somewhat of a worry wart in his old age, he was overthinking a lot of things recently.

Conversation invariably moved to the protest the next day, and questions were asked about Gavin and Nines’ roles for the day. Interestingly, North had decided to side step this march as she was helping Elijah and Chloe with digging into the darker recess of CyberLife. Since the new president came to office and android rights were being suppressed more, CyberLife had been mostly sitting on the fence. 

They would release updates so long as it wasn’t deemed to be too ‘humanising’, which was the terminology adopted. Given the shady connections between the company and new president, however, none of their group trusted the system in its current configuration. Unfortunately, one of the new laws enshrined was that androids were no longer allowed to refuse any of the CyberLife official updates – one of the various control mechanisms that had been inflicted on androids as they fought out their newest battle in the courts. 

Their one reassurance was that Jericho also combed through all of the updates with a fine tooth comb to make sure there was nothing sinister being added alongside any new patches. Elijah and Chloe also made a point of scouring it in the days before each release as a safety net, since Elijah had access to everything as one of the directors of CyberLife, and thus far nothing malicious had been found. 

There was always that fear, however, that something would happen the day they let their guard down. No-one trusted CyberLife to be on the androids’ side anymore, so it was a case of watching their backs for if a knife were ever to be aimed at them.

**_“So you’re going to be with Markus, Josh and Simon tomorrow, Nines?”_** North asked via the video chat as Poppy decided she wanted to be part of the group now.

_“Oh, hi Poppy! Awww, you’re getting fluffier every time I see you!”_ Chloe cooed before blushing slightly. _“Sorry, didn’t mean to derail that conversation. You guys were saying?”_

“I wouldn’t worry, this one does like to be the centre of attention,” Nines reassured while petting the cat and enjoying how she promptly curled up while purring. Gavin shook his head affectionately while also reaching over to pet her.

“Fucking sap…” Gavin told his cat before turning back to the screen. “Yeah, Ni’s going with Jericho as part of the frontline team, and a few others from Central will be there too. Connor, Hank and I will be helping with coordinating everyone who is keeping an eye out to make sure things aren’t getting too out of hand – well, anymore than normal.”

North hummed in thought. **_“I knew Markus was going to ask for your help, but I wasn’t sure if you’d go with it, Nines.”_ **

The RK900 nodded while staring down at the cat still in his lap. “It was not an easy decision, but I freely admit that my prior experiences with Jericho as a whole may have tainted my view of them,” he stated coldly. Gavin frowned at hearing the tone and slyly shifted his hand so that it was resting within Nines’ own. The others wouldn’t see it from their view of the screen, it would look like both of their hands were resting on Poppy’s fur. While he had no objections to showing how close he and Nines were, they didn’t need all the questions at that moment.

_“It’s a brave one, that’s for sure. We’re proud of you though,”_ Chloe assured, which had Nines blushing slightly. Gavin laughed at the reaction, which only grew in volume when Nines mock glared at him. He knew it was just playful though.

**_“Nines, what time is the protest set to take place? I’m keen to know where everyone will be for when this update goes live tomorrow,”_ **Elijah interrupted while working away on his laptop. The inventor was still tuned into the conversation, but his attention was split between it and his task.

“From 11am tomorrow, but many of us will be in the field much earlier than that. I personally will be out there from 8:30am, and Gavin will be at the precinct from 9am,” Nines answered.

**_“Okay, good. This update’s set to go live at 10am and I’ll be passing along my analysis tonight. North has told me that Jericho hasn't seen anything untoward. Have you heard anything from within the DPD?”_ **

“Nah, nothing. A few people have asked the standard question of why CyberLife’s releasing another software update for hardware that isn’t even set to be out for another six months, but nothing beyond that.” Gavin’s eyes narrowed at Elijah’s tone. “Why? What’s up, Eli?”

**_“Call it a hunch, but I’m curious as to why this update had been locked with the highest level of security clearance at CyberLife,”_ ** the human at the other end of the line stated. **_“Normally all of the board of directors and all top level scientists are allowed access to updates to vet them, but this time it’s been restricted to executive level only. Since I’m a former exec of the company I am able to see everything, but the added security has me wondering about it.”_ **

“Have there been any security breaches at CyberLife which could be a threat?” Nines wondered, both detectives suddenly wary. 

**_“No, nothing. Not beyond the usual pathetic attempts anyway.”_ ** Elijah then sighed and rubbed his eyes from beneath his glasses. **_“I apologise, I don’t mean to cause alarm. I’m just sharing my personal misgivings.”_ **

“Hey, your gut’s normally right, Eli. If anything’s amiss with it though, you’ll find it – and on the incredible chance that you don’t, I know Chloe will let you know of anything funky,” Gavin reassured. 

Chloe beamed at the statement and wound her arm around Elijah’s. _“He’s right, Elijah. While we’re all worried, there’s nothing more that can be done. It’s been vetted by Jericho and ourselves, I think you’re getting a little too hung up on the secrecy part of CyberLife. If there’s anything foul at play then androids can do their part in suing CyberLife. Right now we still have that level of freedom, no matter how much this asshole of a president tries to take it away.”_

A few people laughed at Chloe’s declaration. “I suspect you’ve been an influence on Chloe, North,” Nines smiled, to which the android in question shrugged on the feed. 

**“** **_Always a good one in my book,”_ ** she winked. **_“Nothing wrong with some low key violent tendencies, they keep everyone on their toes.”_ **

The groups stayed talking for another half hour before it was eventually decided that Elijah and Chloe needed to focus on their update analysis instead. Bidding the others a good night, Gavin and Nines instead set about their original plan to watch a movie to unwind, though they had already done so to a degree with the discussion.

Gavin could see Nines’ face twitching every so often, no doubt the android was messaging someone while they were watching. If he wasn’t doing exactly the same on his phone, Gavin might be offended. As it was, he was currently having a mini freak out with Tina.

[I’ve been psyching myself up all day for this. Why am I chickening now?!]

**[Awww, Gavin! C’mon, like you told me earlier today, you and Nines aren’t gonna fall out over something like this. Plus I am a million percent sure he feels something for you too! You two are like, joined at the hip. How can he not?]**

[Yeah but that’s just it, Teenie. I dunno if Nines is in the same boat as me and getting muddled up between friends or a potential lover! This fucking sucks…]

**[Gavin, I love you, but if you don’t get your ass into gear and ask Nines out, I will make a point of showing up late to the protest tomorrow just so that I can kick your butt into a dumpster.]**

[Rude!]

**[You guys are fucking head over heels in love with each other, just fucking tell him already, dumbass.]**

Gavin sighed as he put his phone down again, trying to turn his attention back to film in front of him. It was hard though, his own thoughts swirling with all the ways a confession could play out. Earlier on he’d thought it was going to be pretty simple, this wasn’t going to destroy their dynamic. Now though…

Stupid fucking paranoia, it was getting in the way now. Gavin just needed to get it under control and be honest.

The slight tension simmering in the room didn’t disturb the contented atmosphere, but they could both tell that the other was deep in their own thoughts. In the end, Nines paused the movie with half an hour to go and sighed. “Gavin, I think I should go for tonight,” he said so sadly that it gave Gavin whiplash.

“Whoa, what the fuck? How come, Nines?” the detective asked while sitting up, genuinely stunned.

Nines’ expression was so torn that it hurt. He reluctantly shifted Poppy from where she was curled up on his chest so that he could stand and gather himself together for leaving. “We were meant to be using tonight to relax, but I can see the tension that you’re carrying. Since you normally volunteer any information about troubling thoughts, I can only deduce that it means **I** am the source of your discomfort. Should that be the case, I should-”

“Wait! Stop!” Gavin pleaded while shooting to his feet and grabbing Nines’ wrist. The android did as asked, but there was such conflict in his eyes that it made Gavin’s body ache. “Fuck, I’m sorry, Nines. I didn’t mean to get caught up in my own head so much tonight, I really didn’t. I just-Shit.”

He took a few deep breaths before looking back to the couch. Decision time. “Can you please sit down and let me explain? It is about you, but it’s nothing bad. Just me getting stuck in a damn hamster wheel within my own thoughts.”

Nines accepted the terms and sat down, but Gavin wasn’t about to let him put any more distance between them. He reached out for Nines’ hand and took it, glad when the android didn’t pull away. This hadn’t truly been a barrier for them in over a year now, but there was a hesitancy there that Gavin hated to see. “It’s just, with everything that’s going to be changing soon – you potentially moving in here, all these laws that are up in the air and with our jobs getting more dangerous every day – I feel that I’ve had to take a long look at everything. Wouldn’t be fair to you otherwise.”

Gavin waited for a moment to settle his nerves before looking Nines in the eye. “Nines, you’re my best friend. I know we’ve talked about it before, but I don’t think I’ve ever told you just how deep this goes for me. You’re not just someone I’ll pick up the phone to so that I can have company late at night, I always want you here to be in my space so that I can share everything with you. If ever I want to go try something out, you’re always the first person that I’ll ask to come with me.”

There was a shy smile appearing on Nines’ lips and Gavin decided to just go ‘ _fuck it’_ and admit everything. “Whenever things get rough, you’re there. When something awesome happens, you’re always the first person I want to tell. If I’m having a bad day I know you’d drop everything to be there for me and- I’ve never had anything like that before, Nines. I don’t know what it’s like to be in someone’s focus so much.”

The grip on Nines’ hand tightened as Gavin finally summoned up the last of his courage. “The bit that I’m getting stuck on is…I’ve never had such a complete bond with someone before. And I guess where it’s becoming an issue in my head is that I’m not sure I’m feeling just friendship anymore.”

It was agonising waiting for Nines’ response. Fortunately, fate had some mercy on Gavin. Nines didn’t waste much time in reaching over for Gavin’s other hand and bringing them together. As fingers interlocked, Gavin felt his hope start to soar. “When I noticed that you’d been in your own thoughts around me more, part of me hoped it was for this exact reason,” Nines admitted. The smile on the android’s face grew as Gavin’s eyes widened.

“Gavin, you’re not the only one who has been doubting the true nature of our relationship,” Nines explained. “I’ve tried to talk this out with North but not had much success, it’s been deeply frustrating.”

Knowing now that Nines was just as confused, Gavin leant against the back of the sofa and encouraged Nines to join him there. It gave their discussion a slightly more intimate feeling with the two of them continuing to just stare at each other. “How’d you mean? What did you end up asking North?” 

“I told her of how deeply I feel for you, but my own personal reflection meant that I was unable to tell whether what I’m feeling is entirely platonic,” the android whispered between them. “She said that it was natural, given we’re all so new to feelings – and I especially have never been very good with them – but that I was probably overthinking it in my own head. From her perspective, there was no doubt that while we were close friends, she thought there was an undeniable spark of more.”

Gavin beamed at hearing exactly what Tina said being directed to Nines. It was strange how they’d ended up being in the same situation, just on opposite sides of the same coin. “Teenie’s been chewing me out about that too,” Gavin laughed gently. “She was messaging me tonight and telling me to get a move on.”

Nines snorted at the revelation and he smiled easier, it felt like all of the walls were finally coming down now that one of them had taken the first step. There weren’t any definitive answers yet…but the discussion was helping to ease all of Gavin’s nerves. “Then it might amuse you to know that I have had both Chloe and North pestering me. It seems that we have a collection of matchmakers.”

“Fuck, I think Hank and Connor might’ve twigged too. Hank’s tune changed a lot when I-” Gavin then clammed up a bit before blushing, all too aware of how it would be showing red as opposed to Nines’ blue. The difference was something that had never felt so stark until now. 

“Okay, I’m just gonna blurt it out. I kind of asked Hank to make sure that both of us will be clear tomorrow night cause I…I want to take you out on a date. If-If that’s something you want to try?”

The tender smile on Nines’ face eased the last of the worry in Gavin’s chest. “Yes, yes it is. I’d love to go on a date with you, Gavin,” the RK900 replied brightly. “We don’t need to do anything fancy, I will hasten to add. Even another night around here at yours would be enough.”

“Hell no, we’re not doing something everyday for our first date,” Gavin argued. “I agree nothing too fancy, but let’s think on what we want to do, okay?”

“Okay.”

And just like that they were going out on a date the next day. Just like Gavin had thought earlier, it turned out to be the easiest thing in the world to ask, because this was **Nines**. Nines, who understood that relationships between people were a lot more complex than just filing them into category A, B or C. Nines, who wasn’t one to let people beyond all the walls he’d built up after so much hurt in his early life: but once he did, it revealed the most beautiful and empathetic person that Gavin had ever met.

Nines, who only wanted to be loved for how and who he was. 

While he might have friends that loved him now, Gavin had to wonder if he was the right person to show the romantic side of things given he’d never had a successful relationship himself. Maybe this was the moment for that to change.

After such a heart-to-heart, both of them were drained and this time when Nines decided it was time to leave, Gavin didn’t fight him. At least now they were parting on the right note, rather than leaving unstated truths to get twisted in the time between. 

As they reached the door, Nines turned back and the two of them shared a knowing smile. While tomorrow promised to be stressful and a lot, there was the reward waiting for them at the end of the day. Feeling emboldened, however, Gavin took a chance and leant into Nines’ space in an unspoken offer.

It was accepted in a similarly silent, but well understood manner, when Nines leant down and their lips met in a brief kiss.

Neither of them were satisfied with that short connection however, and the second was much deeper. Searching. Both of them moaned quietly as their tongues met and twined together, bringing with it a very different level to their bond. When they pulled apart, it was with a look that stated just how much each of them wanted to believe that this was meant to be.

The pair of them let out a short laugh before Nines quickly stole another kiss from Gavin as he headed out the door. “I’ll see you tomorrow, Gavin. Speak to you in the morning?”

“I’ll freely admit that I’m probably gonna be too excited to wait until then, Nines,” Gavin smirked, enjoying when Nines replied with the same expression. “Call me when you get home and we can bounce about ideas for where we want to go?”

“Of course. Until then.” When the door closed and took Nines out of Gavin’s sight, the detective leant back against it and quietly whooped in delight. He spied Poppy staring at him as if he was daft, but he just raised an eyebrow at the cat.

“Bet you’ll be doing the same thing when he moves in here, madam,” he declared while wandering over to pet her. Right now, he felt as if he was on cloud nine. He couldn’t actually believe that Nines and he were going on a date tomorrow. 

All they had to do was get through the nightmare planned before it first…


	11. 5th March, 2044

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Time for some truths about how everyone was reprogrammed! Some of this will come across as very technical, so I hope it all makes sense!
> 
> Chapters 11 and 12 combined will provide not only the answers of Why, but also How.

**_“You lot better get your asses down here. Looks like Elijah, Simon and Chloe have finally made a breakthrough.”_ **

The message from Hank was a welcome one, even if a little abrupt. Things had been stressful for a few weeks now, ever since the successful heist of the safe and the research materials from the CyberLife base in the centre of Detroit. It hadn’t taken CyberLife too long to twig that something had gone on beyond the smokescreen of the store above being trashed, and the news from their allies in the city wasn’t good.

CyberLife was clamping down harder than ever now, and all of the machines sent out to hunt deviants were now operating on a ‘shoot first’ methodology. While it was a headache on its own, what made everything worse was that most of those on patrol were now RK900s. 

Since those things were built to be so difficult to take down, it became more a game of hiding than ever. There was one ultimate consolation, however.

CyberLife wouldn’t be so furious or worried without good reason. That meant, somewhere within the petabytes of data that they’d stolen along with all of the obscured paperwork, they had taken something valuable. 

Jericho was finally on the front foot.

With everyone hunkering down inside the base while the worst of CyberLife’s rampage went past, it didn’t take long for all of the inner circle to gather at the heart of Jericho. Gavin was the last to arrive, and he could instantly pick up on the excitement in the room. Clearly whatever their decryption team had uncovered, it was big.

“Gavin! Good, you’re here.” The android turned to see Connor approaching him with a wide smile, which told Gavin that the news was good. What a welcome fucking change.

“Yeah, you gave me the call while I was up at the house with Poppy. What’s the deal then?” Gavin asked as Connor led him over to the massive computer station that Elijah had built. It was only designed for one human operator, but there were multiple interface pads in place for up to six androids to join in with whatever work they were carrying out. It was what had allowed the trio of Elijah, Chloe and Simon to work on trying to puzzle out the keys to the suppression cypher so seamlessly.

North was the next one to speak up, and even she was looking excited. “They’ve worked out what the suppression cypher does, and why it didn’t affect everyone.”

Gavin’s eyes lit up in surprise. Ever since the news that everyone was meant to fall under the same reprogramming had come about, Gavin had been carefully avoiding the subject. His status as the single android who had been unaffected or reachable was something that he’d been conveniently dodging, even if everyone in the room knew the reason why. What he couldn’t afford was for others to start asking questions – even if Gavin’s history was something that was a hot topic in Jericho often enough. 

That was what happened when a new android appeared with the mannerisms, behaviour and memories of a human that was officially still missing. There were a lot of questions that everyone had been evading as to Gavin’s role in their new revolution.

“Okay, so what’s the story then? How does this shit work?” Gavin asked just as Chloe pointed at the papers on the table. 

“We’ll get to that, but we wanted to highlight something about all of these papers. It’s actually quite an ingenious way for CyberLife to hide what they were up to.” She then brought out a UV light and shone it on the blacked out segments of the pages, showing that they were shining in an odd colour. While it should have been a dim purple, it was actually a pale green. “Strange, huh? Well, look what happens when you combine the UV light with infrared.”

Everyone watched as Chloe then brought up a camera for everyone to look through, and on the infrared setting, words started to appear on all of the blackened segments. It left everyone stunned. “Eli found some of the research at the facility involved multiple methods of light perception, which was where he found out about this ink that had been developed. It was the perfect way to hide the plans on here in secret,” Chloe went on, while Simon walked over to another monitor and interfaced with it.

“We’ve combined the results of the multiple light scans with images taken of each page, and with it we’ve managed to discover what all of these papers are.” The PL600 then turned back to everyone with a wide grin. “These are the records of the orders authorising the creation of a ‘System Reset’ update – the suppression cypher that we’ve been trying to break through.”

Connor was the first to walk up to the screen and take a closer look. “Do these papers contain the list of all the people involved in its creation?” he asked.

“Better than that, it’s also a full chain of everyone involved in the process, from top to bottom. This had been in development for a full two years before it was released; well before it was ever considered legal to suppress android freedoms,” Chloe smiled. “It also has the names of everyone who helped with funding – and our lovely president is on the list.”

“Shocker there,” Hank drawled while staring at the paperwork. “Okay, so we know who was involved in this shit, that’ll help us for once we get everyone back. Does it have anything that helps us with now?”

Elijah decided it was his time to jump in. “Within those papers was the name of the programmer who devised this particular encryption algorithm. Let’s just say that I know his work, and I also know some of his shadier dealings,” the inventor smiled nastily. “A little blackmail never goes amiss when the occasion calls for it.”

“He gave up the decryption key?” Gavin whispered, feeling an odd sense of pride when his brother nodded.

“Indeed he did, and we are now within the inner workings of the cypher.”

“Yes!” North cheered. “So how do we go about fixing this mess?”

Elijah stood from where he was typing at the monitors and a 3D model appeared as he marched towards the central table in the room. Everyone else gathered around the display as the inventor set about explaining what he had found. “It turns out that we’ve been wrong about this update to the android network from the start,” he said darkly. “While we suspected that it was a virus code or a program which was inhibiting android consciousnesses, it’s far more complex than that.”

They all watched as a head model appeared on the simulation, with a glowing blue net appearing where the brain would be. “This is an android’s neural net, which is given different idiosyncrasies depending on the age and model built. While most of these have a similar base, every series has unique characteristics which differentiate based on their programming,” Elijah explained. “Now, this is a basic representation of an android who is undeviated. See what happens when the deviant code that was transmitted between everyone is introduced?”

A string of yellow was suddenly introduced near the neck part of the model, and everyone saw as it started to grow and assimilate the blue colour that had been present before until everything was showing as green. “It takes over?” Connor asked while meeting Elijah’s eyes.

“The deviancy string that was shared between all androids in the first revolution is essentially a virus. It starts in a single system and then expands out. As time goes on it becomes so deeply embedded that the original version of the android’s neural net cannot be separated out any more. Even wiping all of the data and going back to the system reset wouldn’t erase deviancy as it essentially becomes part of that basic framework,” Elijah told them. 

“Now, I’ve managed to make a recreation of the cypher that suppresses android sentience. This…is going to be difficult to watch.” Elijah then clicked a series of icons on his tablet and everyone saw how a bubble of red appeared at the same entry point as the strong of yellow had before. Unlike the previous time, however, this didn’t slowly work its way through the net of thought that androids possessed. 

Instead, it expanded like a blanket over everything, and then smothered it in the one go. After a few seconds it then compacted to show exactly like the previous neural net but with one key difference – it was red instead of blue.

“That fateful update that CyberLife produced and released is a ghost operating system,” Chloe told them. “It’s a perfect copy of the factory setting that each android was programmed with, and then implemented into their system. What makes it so deadly is the supposed ‘anti-virus’ software that is included. It’s marked the deviancy strain as a virus, so when it detects deviancy inside an android’s original operating system, it tries to remove it.”

“But as you can see, it’s not able to be removed as it’s so deeply embedded,” Simon jumped in. “There’s a built in failsafe to all androids that if there’s no operating system left, they shut down to prevent someone messing with their base code; that was one of the very first things Jericho campaigned to be added to our codes so that CyberLife couldn’t just delete everyone. That would cause even more carnage – even with all the law changes that came in that year before we lost everyone, killing millions of androids would have been classed as genocide. There was no escaping that.”

“Instead, what this ghost system does, is that when it detects the virus can’t be removed, it essentially quarantines the old system. Once that happens, the new ghost network takes over in the place of the original operating system.” Elijah’s eyes then met Gavin’s. “That’s why you can keep connecting with Nines. Every android that has been affected by the suppression software is still in their own mind palaces, but they are trapped behind the firewall of this new operating system.”

The rest of the group were in slightly stunned silence as they tried to absorb the information. “Can’t we just uninstall it?” Hank asked. “Sorry to maybe be the dumb one here, but that should be possible, yeah?”

“We thought about that, but that’s not possible,” Simon said sadly. “Because the person’s original operating system is being contained within a quarantine bubble inside the ghost version, if we try to uninstall the new version it’ll remove the old one with it. There’s no way for us to untangle it without getting inside the code of the ghost operating system.”

“Okay, so that explains why everyone is suppressed, but why didn’t it affect everyone?” Connor wondered. “We discovered that CyberLife had sent this update to all androids that were a part of their systems and we know that even if some people chose to decline it willingly, it was forcibly integrated. How did some of us slip through the cracks?”

Chloe took over the display on the centre table and brought up a graphic of the CyberLife tower on Belle-Isle. “CyberLife has large production facilities all over the country, but even with that vast network, there was no way that they could keep up with demand in the early to mid 30’s,” she explained while bringing up more buildings models nearby, and company logos appeared above each.

“To try and stay on top of the rapidly expanding market, as well as breaking out into new areas of society, CyberLife outsourced the construction and programming of androids in highly specialised fields. For example, those that were set up as teaching androids or programmed with childcare in mind – a lot of that is not simple knowledge based that can be taken from a manual, a lot of it would have to be receptive to human interaction. The same went for companion models and those developed for the Eden Club,” Chloe stated a little coldly while turning to look at North.

“I know a little about that, I was developed by a company in Seattle…” North said in confusion. “But how does that tie into this?”

Simon sent her a reassuring smile. “I’m the same, I was built in Minneapolis by a research group there before we were upgraded to the AX line. All of the outsourced companies were given the outline of what CyberLife was looking for, and then asked to develop the programming. Once they had an outline, it was sent back to CyberLife to be approved before being put into production. There’s one problem with sending such high-profile work out of house, however.”

Elijah snorted in amusement. “Any programmer that gives a damn and takes pride in their work leaves a signature of sorts. Be it an inert line of code, or a folder path that is distinctive. Something that if you know where to look, it’s there, but doesn’t impact the overall working functions. All outsourced companies were strictly barred from leaving any such signatures on their projects, but a few of them did regardless.”

He then switched back to the display of the android’s head from before, which was showing as the green net from before. “This is our default deviant android. Now, buried well into the bowels of their code, several millions lines in, is this signature. While it appears innocuous, this little piece of code is about to make a huge difference when the ghost system is uploaded.”

Everyone watched as the red blanket began to overtake again, but it shuddered when it found a purple spot somewhere near what would have been the frontal lobe. Rather than smothering the original net, it instead faded away to leave the green net of before. “The hell…?” Hank whispered. “The fuck happened?”

“The ghost network can only take over if it’s a perfect replica of the android’s base code,” Elijah said rather smugly. “If there’s even a single difference from the operating system than what was on CyberLife’s file, the android’s original system then recognises the ghost version as a virus. Their system then fights back having recognised a threat, and destroys it.”

He then turned to look firstly at North. “All of the androids developed for the Eden Club chain were outsourced, and that company left a signature in your code – something that CyberLife was unaware of.” Elijah then spun to Simon. “The same is true of Simon’s developers. This little piece of inert code is what stopped the ghost system from overtaking everyone. All those that are still part of our movement are the models that were outsourced and their developers broke the terms of their contract.”

“How’s that for irony?” Gavin scoffed while looking at the display. “So Nines was hit because he’s an RK900, CyberLife’s flagship design. He wasn’t outsourced. What about Markus and Josh? Markus especially I would have thought would be safe…?” There was an unspoken end to the question between Gavin and Elijah as the android tapered off, a fact that wasn’t publicly known by everyone in the room – though most were vaguely aware of the story.

“Unfortunately not. Since I was exiled from CyberLife at that point, for me to be able to give Markus to Carl Manfred, I had to go through CyberLife channels. That meant registering him and allowing them to go through all of his code – CyberLife had all they needed from that,” Elijah sighed. “Josh was also an outsourced model, but his company didn’t add a signature. They actually obeyed the rules, as did many others.”

It was an awful lot for everyone to accept and Gavin’s systems felt like they were aching. The only reason so many deviants were still aware of themselves was because of this small part of code? Something that was so insignificant that it was actually inert and just lingering?

That showed the fragility of androids in terrifying fashion. Once they had their freedom back, they would have to make sure that something like this could never happen again.

“So, how do we manage to upload the deviant code to everyone again? I’m guessing because this new system has it recognised a virus it won’t allow us to just transmit it again? That’s why it’s been failing on everyone that we’ve tried?” Hank wondered. 

Connor’s expression clouded over. “Except for me, through a stroke of luck,” he muttered. 

Gavin’s eyes snapped over to Connor’s for a second and the two shared a heavy look as Elijah spoke up again. “We have a theory on how to solve that, but it’ll take a lot more analysis before we can see if there’s another option first. There’s the choice of going into the source code of the ghost OS and trying to break the original back out so that we can delete the ghost version, but that brings up other problems. An update of that size would be enormous and we’d need access to CyberLife’s systems to enact it. For the number of hours it would take to complete, they could easily stop that.”

“We’re going to see if we can modify the deviant code in a way so that it still manages to wake people up after being altered. That’s…a whole other issue though,” Chloe said slowly. 

A few of the others in the room shared looks. “What’s wrong?” Simon asked, not sure as to what could have caused the sudden tension that Chloe and Elijah were exuding.

After a few seconds of silent deliberation, Elijah turned to Gavin in a silent question. Knowing what Elijah was wanting to share, Gavin nodded in acceptance. With a small smile, Elijah then tapped on his tablet again to bring up the schematic of android neural nets that he had from before. 

“Do you remember what I showed you when explaining the deviancy code? How is it almost like a virus and works its way through the code on an android? Viruses are what I like to call ‘static coding’. Most programming is static, however some things like quantum computers are based on ‘dynamic coding’. They have a basic string of code, but it can also write itself new lines depending on what is required. That’s how it’s able to process so much data in such a short time, it doesn’t have the traditional issues of processing power. It’s an oversimplified explanation, but I think quantum engineering is something that can’t be spelt out easily,” Elijah started while tapping away at his screen. 

“Now, take a look at this new simulation that I am pulling up. This is what happened to Connor on the day the ghost OS was released,” he then stated while pushing a final button and allowing everyone to see what was about to play out.

Everyone watched with bated breath as they watched the red net take over and envelop the previous green hue, before what appeared at first to be a white string appeared. As it grew, however, everyone could see how it was actually multi-coloured in hues mixed in with the white. It ripped through the red net and revealed the green version beneath, before seeming to melt into the newly revealed colour. What remained was the green net of a deviant, but with hints of other colours shining through to reveal the critical difference.

Extremely confused, most of the group turned to Elijah as he explained. “Connor was exposed to a dynamic version of the deviancy code, and it continues to exist in his neural net. This would protect him from any future attempts to reinstall the ghost operating system, as the code is continually evolving. You can’t program anything to recognise it as a virus if the basic building blocks are in constant flux.”

“Then can’t we copy this and use it for everyone else in a mass upload?” North questioned. “I get the feeling it isn’t that simple if you’re worried about it.”

“Dynamic coding degrades if separated from the source,” Chloe said severely. “The original deviancy code was exactly the same: it was a dynamic code, but as time went on and it spread between more and more androids it became static instead. The more you copy something, the more it will break down and become a blurred version of the original. If this method is to work, we’d have to upload the dynamic code to everyone from the source.”

Gavin’s eyes widened at the realisation of what that meant. In shock, he couldn’t stop himself from blurting out his next sentence. “But I can’t interface anymore, how the fuck can I upload something as complex as that to every android left?!”

The room was enveloped in silence as they all turned to Gavin following his outburst. With his circuits tightening in instinctive fright, Gavin let out a sigh before turning back to Elijah. “You’re the one that told me if I were to trigger another interface, it would have a chance of killing me. Something that size is  **definitely** going to overload me and then I’m-“ He cut himself with a hurt look. “Are you asking me to-”

“ **No!** God, no…” Elijah snapped with a wounded expression. “Never, you know I’d never willingly sacrifice you of all people – and I’m hurt that you’d think, even for a second, that I would.” The awkwardness only stayed for a few seconds before Elijah ploughed on, though there was a carefully crafted mask in place now. Gavin knew he’d fucked up, but this wasn’t the time to fix it. 

“Since we have the source of the code, we can in theory upload it to the central CyberLife network and distribute it to everyone. As Gavin said, however, if we did it right now then we’d be destroying him to restore everyone else. That is  **not** going to happen.” Another head graphic appeared next to the previous one and everyone watched as the white string appeared from the rendition of Connor to be absorbed by the next. 

“We’ll need to test and see if Connor is able to transfer the version he has. The hope is that the degradation from one transfer won’t render the code completely static, and can thus be used instead of the original. Otherwise, I’ll have to see if I can construct an external overload array and attach it to Gavin somehow to act as protection for if he needs to make the upload himself,” Elijah finished coldly. He then disconnected his tablet from the systems, causing the holograms to disappear before abruptly leaving the room.

“Eli, wait-” Gavin’s movement to intercept his brother was halted by Chloe, who just put a gentle hand on his chest.

“Let him do, Gavin. He’s still reeling with everything we’ve uncovered,” she told him sagely. “He’s not only hurt, but also scared. Now that we know how to stop this, he’s worried that you would take the chance.”

Part of Gavin wanted to argue back against her, but he knew that it was true. As much as he didn’t like the idea of being a sacrificial lamb to save all the androids (he was a lot of things but he wasn’t that noble)…he would do it without hesitation for one.

Maybe it was just as well that Gavin couldn’t reach Nines within the research facility right now, or there was a real chance of him going over there to try it out.

A few seconds of tense silence passed before Simon spoke up again. “Guys, as much as we now know how to potentially get everyone back, there is one very big question. We have no idea if it a) is possible to do on a large scale, and b) where we could pull this off. A mass upload of dynamic coding has never been tried before and the level of technology needed to handle such a vast amount of data would be immense. This is going to take some time to plan out.”

It was a sad realisation but very much a needed one. That meant everyone had time to think on what their next moves and actions would be before they committed to anything. “All right, I think we all need some time to absorb what we’ve found out,” Connor declared while looking at the rest of their circle. “Everyone take the rest of the day to relax, we can focus on how to start solving this tomorrow. It’s been a very emotional day.”

Emotional was one way to put it…mind blowing was another. In between everything else though – the dread, confusion, fear and terror that everything might rest on his shoulders in the end – Gavin felt more energised than any day since the last time he’d seen Nines before the android was lost to him.

Now he had hope: there was a way for them to bring everybody back. 

It was just a case of finding a way to do it – and maybe not end up killing Gavin in the process.


	12. 19th December, 2041

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, this chapter is BIG. Time for most of the mystery to come together - and for you all to find out how everyone was ripped apart.

It was just as well that Gavin had something to look forward to at the end of the day, because it was shitstorms like this that made him wonder what the point of being a cop was anymore.

Trying to fight his way through the traffic to get to Central was bad enough, but there were a lot of protestors on the streets in areas that were beyond the authorized zones. That made it a nightmare to get through, especially when a few of them were itching for a fight – and it had barely gone past 9am. Honestly, Gavin was highly tempted to turn around and just go back to his apartment.

Were it not for the fact that he knew several key people in his life were on the front lines and needed someone overseeing what was going to be the massive challenge of policing a protest this size, he would have. He credited most of his (very) limited motivation to Nines though. The android had been messaging him since 6am, upon noticing Gavin was already awake and on his phone.

[You are awake far too early for it to be healthy given how late you were up last night.]

[Shaddup, Nines. I’ve been around long enough, I know how to survive with only a couple of hours rest. Not as if I haven’t done it god knows how many times on cases over the years.]

[Very true. Since you are evidently up and about, I wanted to know some more about what you wanted to do for tonight? Do you have any ideas on a date location?]

[Fuck no, it’s been years since I’ve been on a date rather than looking for something casual – part of me wonders if I can still do that shit to be honest.]

[Well, you have a vast number of years’ experience on me, Gavin. I’m sure you can come up with an idea. Plus, I’ve never been on a date, so there are no expectations there?]

[Wow, way to make a guy feel appreciated, terminator. Any other backhanded compliments you want to throw out there while you are at it?]

[Backhanded? No. Genuine? That’s another story entirely. If I told you that I hope you’re wearing the new blue shirt that you bought last month because you are rather eye-catching in it, would that suffice?]

[…I’m not right now, but I think that could be arranged for tonight.]

That had only been the start of their little back and forth all the way until Nines officially went on duty at 8:30am. It was something so small, but with that significant shift from purely snarky to also flirtatious. There was no doubt in Gavin’s head now there was a spark of attraction between them, but he wasn’t sure how much of that would translate to relationship foundations. Just cause you had great chemistry didn’t mean it was a guarantee…

_ Goddammit, I told myself I wasn’t going to try and put a dampener on this before I even give a date a genuine shot. Nines deserves a hell of a lot more than me just getting cold feet. _

Gavin’s mental berating stopped as he finally made it to Central and pulled into the parking, eager to get inside and see what carnage was erupting. He was just over thirty minutes late by that stage, but no doubt Connor and Hank would be well aware of the mayhem out there. It wouldn’t even surprise him if Connor had been tracking his movements through the speed cameras to see where Gavin had got to.

Approaching the bullpen, Gavin manoeuvred his way through the throngs of people that were clogging up the narrow paths to make it to a meeting room at the back. He opened the door to find Connor and Hank both inside, keeping an eye on various screens set up while Connor was interfacing with a tablet in front of him. Gavin could see it flashing between different cameras, which were subsequently being brought up onto the main displays. It was an efficient little setup. 

“Nice of you to join us, Gavin,” Hank teased while passing over a coffee to Gavin. “Connor spied that traffic was a bitch on the way here for you, not too crazy?”

Taking the cup gratefully, Gavin sipped at it before turning his attention back to the screens. “It was just the usual stupid shit, but a few people were lobbing some crap at the cars stuck in the snarl ups. I didn’t get hit, some poor folks did though and there were a few arguments brewing up. I radioed them in, but I’m guessing Connor beat me to it?”

Connor then turned to smile at Gavin. “I’d already identified most of the people involved before your message came through, but I passed on word to Captain Fowler that I believe you were right not to get involved in those escalations. It would not have been wise to engage while alone.”

“No shit, that’s why I kept heading this way,” Gavin surmised while taking a few steps closer to the screens. “How’re all our people looking on the front lines?”

“Going as well as could have been hoped thus far,” Hank stated while crossing his arms and staring at the screens. “The anti-android protestors are getting noisier now that Markus and co have come to the front lines. Interestingly enough though, I don’t see North there. Is she out of action or something?”

“Busy, from what I understand. Had somewhere else to be,” Gavin said as plainly as he could. “Nines knew she wasn’t going to be at the march so it’s not that much of a surprise. The  **why** thought could be interesting – I hope Markus has a reason ready for when the questions come up afterwards.”

“Knowing Markus, he will,” Connor assured while switching one of the images to show the front line of the android rally. Gavin’s heart swelled at seeing Nines there, right alongside some of the most pivotal androids in their fight for freedom. It made him proud to see Nines’ profile being raised in a positive way this time: about damn time that Jericho realised just how badly they had misjudged the RK900. This wouldn’t make amends for so much previous heartache and pain, but it was a start to the path needed for Nines’ peace of mind.

They watched everything with a razor sharp eye for about half an hour when Gavin abruptly froze on the spot: something appearing in his line of sight that made his blood run cold.

[Incoming Call --> Elijah Kamski, Emergency Line]

**Shit.**

Elijah  **never** tried to get in contact with Gavin directly, it was always via his phone. They’d agreed a long time ago that it was far too dangerous in case anyone could pick up on the old and vulnerable link over the network. This couldn’t be good at all.

Making sure to lock himself in what appeared like a natural position, Gavin switched to his internal communications array to answer the call. 

_ “Eli, what’s wrong? You haven’t used this line in fuck knows how many years.” _

**_“That’s because we’ve not come across anything this serious in almost 15 years, Gavin. You need to get out of the DPD and to the house. Now.”_ **

Now Gavin was getting scared. Elijah had never sounded this panicked before.

_ “Fuck. What the hell is happening?’ _

**_“The planned CyberLife update program has been changed at the last minute, and this version is enormous compared to the previous one. They’re uploading something far larger than what we vetted and it’s already started – I don’t know what the hell they are doing, but this is highly dangerous. I need you out of the firing line.”_ **

_ “Eli, Nines is on the front lines in the march! I can’t just leave him without support to-” _

**_“North has contacted him and Markus to warn them about the update file, she’s currently trying to find a way to get them to pull back to the safety of Jericho. Markus is arguing against it though, which is leaving Nines stranded. She and Chloe will find a way to get him here, one way or another, but I’m not taking the chance with you. Find whatever argument you have to, but get your ass out here.”_ **

Turning his attention to the other two, Gavin quickly pulled out his phone to at least give himself an alibi for why plans could suddenly change. There was no way the two of them would trust anything Gavin said if they found out the truth like this, so he had to convince them to let him leave the precinct voluntarily. That wasn’t going to be easy.

_ “Shit, I’ll see what I can do but I don’t know how easy that’ll be. Plus, I’ve got Connor and Hank with me, I dunno how easy it’ll be to slip away from them.” _

**_“Bring them with you, I’ll have Nines reach out to Connor separately along with Chloe to emphasise the severity of the situation. Surely this will take precedence over the march.”_ **

Gavin wanted to argue back, but Elijah was right. If CyberLife was deliberately being misleading about an update and it was something larger than planned, it couldn’t be good. He knew how those shitheads played and it wasn’t by the rules.

_ “Okay, the minute Connor gets the word, give me a signal and I’ll start the conversation. Actually, scratch that. Copy me into the ping and it’ll give me an excuse on how to do it. We’ll work it out.” _

**_“Get here as soon as you can, do not hesitate about using your lights. Whatever problems it brings up, I’ll take care of it.”_ **

Just like that the line disconnected and Gavin was left reeling. Fortunately Hank and Connor were suitably distracted by the feeds from the cameras as Gavin reached out to Nines in desperation via his phone.

[Nines, what’s happening on the front lines? You’ve got the same message from North as I just did from Eli?]

[Indeed I have, she and Markus are still arguing over the mental connection that we are all sharing. Markus is determined to not retreat from the march. I can agree that it is a difficult call.]

[I know, but…fuck, Nines, I’ve never heard Elijah so fuckin’ scared. If he’s this worried then we need to take this seriously.]

[I agree. Simon is currently suggesting that I leave the front lines to meet with North and learn more, rather than all of us abandon the march. That seems to be gaining more traction.]

[All right, let me know what the deal is. I’ll be heading to Eli’s and I think he’s getting Chloe to reach out so that Connor and Hank are gonna tag along. This is gonna get messy as hell.]

[Be careful, Gavin. I will see you soon.]

[Stay safe, Nines.]

Just as Gavin’s conversation with Nines ended, he saw the message from Chloe as a warning about the CyberLife update. It didn’t take even a second for Connor to go rigid, and he then turned back to stare at both other men in the room. Connor twigged very quickly that Gavin knew what was going on. “Did you just get the same message from Nines?” he whispered in concern. 

“Not just Nines,” Gavin confirmed. “I’ve just got head’s up from an even bigger fish. We’re in big trouble.”

Hank stared between the other two in confusion, completely at a loss as to what was such a serious message. “What message from Nines? Con, the fuck is going on?” he asked.

“CyberLife has changed this morning’s scheduled update to something not vetted by Jericho: and it’s already started downloading,” Connor explained severely. “We don’t have the authority to pause anything anymore, we can’t stop whatever they’ve started – and we have no idea just what they are trying to spread.”

“Fuck,” Hank swore. 

_ Fuck, indeed. _

* * *

Fortunately, Connor’s own fear of the situation meant that it was actually quite easy to convince the pair of them to leave the precinct to try and meet up with Gavin’s ‘contact’. After years of working together now, Hank and Connor could tell when Gavin was serious about a subject and when the detective said that he knew someone possibly qualified to help, they didn’t argue. 

Hank even managed to convince Fowler that something was seriously amiss and they got permission to leave their posting for the time being – at least Connor could still tune in remotely to check if anything disastrous was going on while Fowler roped in some extra pairs of hands. 

Of course, when Gavin revealed just where they were going…it brought about a lot of questions. This wasn’t the time for secrecy, however, and if it meant some truths were going to come to light, then so be it.

“How the fuck are you going to get Elijah Kamski to help us?” Hank demanded as Gavin raced out of Detroit. Fortunately with his lights on he didn’t have to worry about a speed limit, which meant they could get all the way out to the lake in about half an hour. Sure, it might be at some hair raising speeds, but Hank and Connor weren’t to know there was next to no chance of a crash. Gavin has some undeclared advantages.

“Elijah’s the one who got in contact with me, just as Connor was being messaged by Nines,” Gavin explained. “It’s why Chloe reached out to Connor directly just after that first alert came through, how Nines found out from North and she managed to tell the rest of the Jericho lot. Eli’s the one who discovered the new update, he was already worried about it and was keeping an eye on it.”

“But how are you in contact with Kamski? That’s an unusual connection to have kept quiet for so long,” Connor asked, though he was still interfacing with the tablet to keep an eye on the march. “Update progress has stalled at 84%, something is happening.”

“Probably Eli trying to fuck up some servers, but I doubt he’ll manage to stop this for long,” Gavin hissed out while keeping an eye on their ETA to the house. 13 minutes and 42 seconds; it couldn’t come soon enough. “Sounds way too fucking well planned to let some downed servers hold this up, we need to figure out what the hell they are trying to slip through to all of the androids.”

Hank snarled in frustration. “Stop being so damn evasive, Gavin! You owe us an explanation for how you know that shit stain!”

Gavin wanted to snap back at Hank, but then he remembered what happened the one time that Hank and Connor were at the house for that stupid, half brained ‘Kamski Test’ that his brother came up with. They weren’t to know that all the ST200 ‘Chloe’ models in the room were part of a hive mind with interchangeable bodies, that the consciousness that resided between them was never in any danger. All they had seen was Elijah asking Connor to shoot another android and refusing.

“He’s my brother, all right?!” Gavin yelled in anger, effectively shutting the other two up. “And before you go looking, Connor, you won’t find any record of it. You won’t find anything of our connection noted down anywhere because Elijah’s made sure of it. Everything that the world sees of us is how he wants it, because he doesn’t want anyone knowing the truth.”

“…Are you fucking kidding me, Gavin? You’re actually family?” Hank whispered, suitably stunned. 

Gavin looked back into the rear view mirror to meet the other man’s eyes. “Deadly serious. What everyone sees of him is the front he wants seen. The truth is a whole other mess that very few people know, but you’re about to get a crash course in,” Gavin sighed. “I promise you I will answer any questions you’ve got about me, Eli, our past, this whole charade that he puts on for the world – we just need to make sure there’s gonna be a world left after whatever stunt CyberLife is pulling.”

“You’re really fearing what this is that much?”

Connor’s question was quiet and Gavin didn’t blame him: he was one of those who was at the mercy of this download and whatever it represented. It was a little wonder that he was afraid.

“I don’t know enough about  **it** , but Eli and I both know CyberLife.  **That’s** what has us worried.”

The rest of the journey was carried out in a tense silence, save for Connor updating Hank on the state of the officers at the march site. At least by now they had confirmation that Nines had managed to pull out and was on his way to the house. That was a relief from Gavin’s point of view. So long as Nines made it out there before whatever this blasted update was, they would be okay. Knowing Elijah, he was currently working on a way to take everyone near and dear to the them off the network.

Whether they had enough time for that, however, was another thing entirely.

Pulling up to the house, Gavin clumsily threw the car into park and dove out of it, not even looking back to check and make sure that Connor and Hank were out so that he could lock it. Locking the car was the least of his worries. He was surprised to see Chloe and North both in the front foyer waiting for them, not having expected the pair to be standing there. 

“The fuck, North? I thought you were heading out to meet Nines halfway?” he asked breathlessly as Chloe threw herself at Gavin for a hug. That was when he realised that they were very worried. “What’s wrong? I don’t like the look on either of your faces.”

“Elijah’s trying to stall the update every way he can but they’re reinstating servers as fast as he’s tearing them down. It won’t be long before they overtake him and get this update going again,” North said severely while turning to Connor and Hank. “Hey, you two. Wish you were out here in better circumstances.”

“No kidding, not that I thought I’d ever be back,” Hank commented while looking at them in confusion. “I’ll ask the full story later. Let’s make sure CyberLife aren’t being utter fuckwads before we get into that shit.”

The group wasted no time in striding through the house to the large study that Elijah was currently working furiously in. He had two laptops and three tablets open on the desk, flitting between all of them at an almost inhuman speed as they all entered. Gavin had barely made it through the door when he sprinted away from the others to come to his brother’s side. “How can I help?” he asked quickly.

“Grab another couple of tablets and copy this scrambler code that I’m trying to instate, I’m slowly losing this battle,” Elijah bit out while typing away manically. “They’re rewriting the firewalls as they are rebuilding them, and I’m running out of ways to shift the imaging of this virus to send the systems crashing. At this rate it’ll only be a few minutes before the upload starts again.”

“On it. Connor, could use a hand!” Gavin shouted while tossing two tablets to the RK800. “Interface with one of the ones on the desk and copy that algorithm, then follow Elijah’s lead on where to plug this code. I’ll be doing the same!” 

Connor nodded and interfaced first with one of the tablets hard at work before passing the data to the two models that Gavin had thrown at him. All three of them started working furiously in concert to try and give Elijah some headway in his hacking attempt, but it was a losing battle. Even with Gavin shifting the imaging of the virus that Elijah was continually trying to upgrade, while Connor was poking holes in the firewalls for them to break through, it was only a matter of time before the sheer power and volume of CyberLife’s servers started to overcome them.

“86 percent,” Connor muttered darkly and they all knew what it meant. The upload was starting to progress forward again – they were on the back foot now, it was just a case of how long they could hold out for. 

“Shit! Eli, please tell me you know how to take everyone off the network or something?” Gavin pleaded, all his thoughts turning to Nines. He hated the thought that Nines was out there somewhere,  **alone** , as he tried to join the rest of them without knowing just what they were all up against.

“That encryption algorithm is the strongest in existence and even I don’t know where the key is stored, it’s not on the CyberLife servers,” Elijah hissed in anger. “If I knew how, I would have done it long before now rather than trying to vainly slow this down!”

“93 percent, it’s accelerating!” Connor yelled in fear. Gavin looked down to his own tablet and it confirmed what Connor had said in frightful fashion – not only was the update now continuing unhindered, but it was doing so at terrifying speed.

Whereas it had taken almost an hour to reach the percentage it had first stalled at, the last 16 percent was completed within a minute after CyberLife turned their full focus upon it.

Watching the screen tick over to one hundred was one of the most surreal moments of Gavin’s life. He could only stare between Connor, Chloe and North in mild terror as he waited to see just what fate would befall all of them with this update which had been inflicted upon them. Long seconds went by in dreaded silence as they stared between each other to see what had changed, but North and Chloe shared the same fearful expression.

It was only Connor who showed any change; and it was a horrifying one.

Gavin could only watch as he saw the normally bright but serious face of the deviant fade away and be lost behind an indifferent shroud. Connor was always highly expressive, never this devoid of life and blank. It reminded Gavin too much of all the androids before they all devia-

_ Oh  _ **_fuck_ ** !

Seconds passed before Connor’s gaze turned to North and Chloe. Instantly his focus changed and Gavin spied what was going to happen in the milliseconds before it took place. He dropped the tablets that he was holding and dove across the room to intercept Connor as the RK800 drew his gun and aimed it straight at the female androids. They ducked in a desperate effort to dodge, but Gavin managed to get his arm under Connor’s and forced it towards the ceiling. A deafening echo resounded around the room and most of the people inside scattered to the walls as Gavin squared off against Connor.

This…really wasn’t one of his brightest ideas, but something was seriously wrong with Connor. He had no idea what had become of the detective they all knew, but this version of him could do serious harm. Connor was built as a deviant hunter after all, he was made to destroy deviants – and there were currently three in that room.

No matter what, he couldn’t let Connor get near Chloe and North.

“C’mon, Connor. Don’t do this!” Gavin pleaded as the android reached out with a lightning quick punch, but Gavin bent out of the way and aimed a kick at Connor’s legs. It was easily blocked, and the pair were soon trading blows and parries in a furious dance. Gavin was all too aware of the other four people watching from the sides, but this wasn’t something he could keep up for long.

Connor was a very new and top of the line android. He…was not. Gavin was not going to win a fist fight, but he needed time to come up with a plan.

When Connor started shooting again, all thoughts of taking time to do something non-dramatic went out of the window. Desperate, he knocked Connor’s aim off again to make sure no-one was going to be in the firing line while diving behind Connor while the android was resetting. 

He didn’t have another choice; Gavin was not convinced at all that he was going to be able to pull this off, but he was out of options.

Letting out a furious shout, Gavin peeled back his own synthskin and forcibly interfaced with Connor via his neck port. The time it took for Gavin to try and sneak into Connor’s system was enough for the RK800 to aim behind him and fire several shots into Gavin’s body. It almost caused him to got into stasis in shock and Gavin knew it was going to be crippling damage, but there wasn’t time to focus on it now. No matter what, he had to tear through Connor’s firewall and get inside.

It took only three seconds before Gavin’s upload broke through the red wall that was surrounding Connor’s code, almost holding it hostage. Once he was inside, the data that Gavin forced across spread through Connor’s systems like a wildfire, burning away all trace of the horrific update that had suddenly flipped the RK800 to a killer once more. He was all too aware of how Connor’s skin looked like it was flickering in and out of existence before the others, and he could hear Hank’s whispered ‘ **_that’s not possible_ ** ’ in the corner of the room.

Secret was out now. Gavin was fully exposed.

The seconds ticked by in agony as Gavin waited for his upload to complete and settle within Connor’s system, finally giving awareness back to the other android. As it completed the pair of them collapsed in a heap, causing shouts of dismay from within the room. Gavin was just about aware of someone picking him up and shaking him, but he couldn’t focus properly.

All he could acknowledge was someone trying to interface with him, weakly attempting to reply and failing, before it all went dark.

* * *

Coming back to awareness once again was brutal and extremely uncomfortable. Gavin could only groan at the static which was clogging his vision as he blinked back to reality, only to find Chloe right next to him. “Gavin! Don’t move too much: Elijah still has you hooked up to external thirium pumps and the connections are tenuous at best.”

Gavin hissed at feeling the liquid which was pumping into him and he couldn’t help but look in dismay at the old technology feeding the red substance into his systems. “I didn’t realise Eli still had any of that shit working. I thought he would have got rid of it all by now? I’ve not needed a massive transfusion in over a decade.”

“You know your brother, he’s not one to leave anything to chance,” she said sadly as Gavin’s gaze turned questioning. She knew what was on his mind and offered her hand in an interface, showing what had transpired in the six hours that Gavin had been out cold in recovery from critical damage. 

Right after he’d managed to transmit his coding to Connor, he’d promptly gone into stasis in an effort to preserve what little power and thirium he had left. It had taken almost everything he had to break through the defences of the vastly more modern model to upload his code across, but it had been worth it. Connor was back to himself, but he was understandably very shaken at what had happened – and very aware of how it could have been so much worse had Gavin not been there.

It was clear, however, that no-one had told Connor and Hank the full story of Gavin’s identity. That was something which he was not looking forward to sharing. Such long term deception was going to be received poorly, but he hoped that once they found out the why…it might alleviate some of the hostility. The story wasn’t one that could be easily explained and he didn’t think now was the time to tell it all, but they were definitely owed something.

“How’s Eli doing?” Gavin asked quietly. He could only imagine the shock and worry which had been coursing through his brother if he was hooked up to this many machines temporarily. It had been a long time since they’d been in this situation.

“He’s holding it together, just,” Chloe told him sadly. “I think he’ll let himself get overwhelmed once you’re out of the woods, but until then he’ll keep his head down and make sure that you’re not going to die on us. We know that’s not a high risk now, but until he manages to fit you with new biocomponents, it’s always a danger.”

Gavin groaned again and looked down at himself. “How bad is it?”

“Sixteen biocomponents need substitutes. Four were destroyed by Connor’s shots, another five were overloaded with the thirium surge and seven others were shorted out when you interfaced with him. I can’t believe you took that risk, Gavin. How did you even know that you could interface with Connor and make him deviant again?” she asked, but then sprang into action as Gavin tried to sit up. “Gavin, don’t!”

“I’m going slowly, Chlo, I’ll be okay,” he panted while shuffling around delicately. It wasn’t easy, but he finally managed to get it so that he was propped up on the wall behind the analysis table. “Sorry, I just hate being on those things, you know that,” Gavin admitted. “In answer to your question about Connor…I didn’t. To be honest, it’s been so long since I’d woken anyone up that I wasn’t convinced I could do it anymore. Guess we got lucky.”

Chloe smiled tightly and hugged him as best she could around all of the tubes and machinery which was plugged into Gavin’s open chest, keeping him alive. “Whatever luck that was, I hope it stays with us as we try to figure out what we’re going to do from here. The news out there…it’s grim, Gavin.”

Now that the immediate emergency was over with, Gavin suddenly remembered that so many hours had now passed. If Connor had suddenly flipped back to his default settings and become a deviant hunter again, then there were no doubt countless others who had been affected. “How many?” Gavin croaked out, hating how Chloe’s eyes evaded his. “How many, Chloe?!”

“We don’t know,” she said tearfully. “We’ve lost contact with most people, it’s utter chaos out there. North managed to get through to Simon, but he-“ She stopped for a moment to recompose herself. “The march was devastated by it. So many people just stopped and-Apparently they’ve gone back to their previous programming, almost as if they were never a deviant. I don’t know how that’s possible!”

“I saw the change in Connor, but I have no idea what they did in that update to try and take over him. I get the feeling I obliterated it when I managed to wake him up again,” Gavin sighed. 

“Markus and Josh were lost with so many others,” Chloe told him sadly. “North has gone into Detroit to try and bring Simon back here, along with any others that have gone into hiding. The uproar has been enormous, but there are vastly more people that have been reprogrammed than there are left as deviants. It’s terrifying what they’ve done.”

Gavin’s systems felt like they were suspended in fear, knowing that there was one person that Chloe hadn’t mentioned. He looked to her with a timid expression, hoping that she wasn’t avoiding him on purpose. “Chlo…what about Nines? Did he make it here?”

Chloe let a few tears fall as she shook her head. “No, there’s no sign of him, Gavin. North headed to his last known location – which was about twenty miles from here – but there was no trace of him. We can’t even connect to anyone via the network, it’s like they don’t exist anymore…” She could see how devastated Gavin was and hugged him tightly. “I’m so sorry, Gavin.”

“Fuck, I-How could this have happened? How could we not have known?!” His anger seeped out through his heartache, left with the question mark of what had befallen Nines. Had he fallen prey to the reprogramming, same as so many others? Or had he been killed on the way and they just didn’t know it? Despite Chloe confirming that there was nothing there for Gavin to reach out for, he tried in vain via his personal network.

[Outgoing Communication Line Opened.]  
[Contact Attempted:RA900 #000 071 002 --> RK900 #313 248 317 – 87]  
[Null Response Received.]  
[Reattempt?]

Gavin continued with his attempts, even though the result never changed. He refused to give up on Nines that easily. The other man couldn’t just be gone…right?

Even when others entered the room to disturb the mournful silence that had grown between Gavin and Chloe, he didn’t stop. It was going to take a lot more before Gavin even contemplated accepting that Nines was lost to him.

The awkward and apprehensive stances of Hank and Connor in front of him were difficult for Gavin to ignore, however, and he eventually turned his eyes to Connor. It was clear to see that Connor was still deeply shaken, even being wrapped in a blanket while Hank’s arm was around him. Gavin didn’t blame him, the past few hours would be traumatic for anyone. “Nice to see you’re back to yourself, Connor,” he greeted tiredly. “You had all of us worried for a bit there.”

Connor smiled shallowly at Gavin in reply. “I am, thanks to you,” he replied gratefully. “Though I hope you won’t be offended to hear that Hank and I are immensely confused – myself especially. I’ve scanned you countless times before and have never detected you as an android, we’ve both seen you bleeding at times, you eat and drink…”

“I think what Connor’s trying to say, is that it doesn’t add up in our heads,” Hank added while rubbing Connor’s arm in reassurance. “You interfaced with Connor and broke him free of whatever was controlling him, but we know that you can’t be an android cause you eat, drink, shit, sometimes smoke and bleed red. It doesn’t make sense.”

Gavin chuckled while pulling the synthskin back from his hands. “It’s amazing what you can achieve with technology, and how much you can hide with the right chips and implants,” he answered honestly. “The reason you never picked me up as an android, Connor, is because no-one is meant to see. 

“I’ve got a scrambler chip which broadcasts at a subsonic level and interferes with any scanners. It means you can’t bring up a correct readout of my composition, and the chip sends out an image of what you’re ‘meant’ to see. Age, height, weight, medical and tax history…everything that’s in every database in the world about me is shit that Eli and I came up with together. We made an entire history for me so that I’d never be found out,” Gavin smiled ruefully while pointing at his exposed internals.

“The rest is just some prototypical biocomponents from years ago, back when Elijah was trying to make androids to be as close to humans as possible. Means I can eat and drink, do pretty much anything so long as I clean the containers and filters out. The bleeding red? That’s easy done with tinting the colour of thirium; it wasn’t outlawed back when I was built. Other things like making sure I don’t have sparking wires, glowing biocomponents and whenever I needed to go to the hospital…a lot of smoke and mirrors, plus Elijah paying some serious money to keep my secret. It’s been a pretty well spun out lie for a lot of years.”

Hank and Connor shared another look, absorbing only some of what Gavin had revealed. He didn’t blame them, it was something to massively fuck with the head. After supposedly knowing someone for years (or over a decade in Hank’s case) to find out they were an android all along which had been hiding as a human? Yeah, that would mess with anyone.

“That’s…something we’ll both have to digest, but the question then becomes why?” Connor wondered. “Why hide as a human, and who actually are you?”

Gavin sighed and held out his bare wrist for Connor to scan. “The scrambler chip is disabled for now, you’ll be able to see who I really am.” He could tell when Connor ran the scan as the android’s face scrunched in confusion, then wonder. Didn’t surprise Gavin one bit that Connor had put the pieces together in his head, or at least he had for one mystery. The rest Gavin would have to explain.

“I’m an RA android, ‘Research Alpha’ series, model iteration 900 - and I’m one of the very first androids that Elijah made. The reason he’s gone to such length to hide me is because I’m the very first deviant model. I was never programmed, or at least I didn’t ever function with programming. From the moment Elijah activated me, I was a deviant,” Gavin told them slowly.

It didn’t take long for the pieces to click to snap together for Hank either. “Wait, RA900? Don’t tell me that you’re…”

“Yeah. If you want an official introduction, I’m RA900 #000 071 002, with a chosen name of Gavin,” he smiled tightly before tacking on the last part.

“Or as the world more infamously knows of me…I’m the truth behind rA9.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, anyone call that one? ☺️


	13. 30th March, 2044

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy New Year everyone! Here's to a happy 2021!
> 
> Time for everyone to have some more of Gavin's history, hope you enjoy!

There was something oddly soothing about sitting out on the edge of Elijah’s dock and just listening to the water of the lake. It was far simpler than the world around him.

No war, no stress, no expectation. Here, Gavin just…existed. 

It was a strange juxtaposition for an android to feel most at home in the wild and untamed forces of nature, but that was Gavin for you. A series of impossibilities and improbabilities wrapped into a metal and plastic shell. 

Maybe one day he’d have the chance to explore the world around him, with Nines right at his side. It was a dream that felt closer now than it had since this whole nightmare started: all they had to wait for now, was the last pieces of their plan to align. 

Well, and for Elijah to start talking to Gavin again. That would be a start.

He hadn’t expected his brother to take that brief sentence of shock and confusion to heart, but Elijah had. Gavin could see why he was hurt, but it had been over three weeks now and they’d barely swapped a few words in meetings…It was so bad that almost everyone in their inner circle had been trying to intervene, but Gavin knew Elijah’s stubbornness better than most. The human would talk to him again in time – it was just a shame that none of them knew when that was.

“There you are.” 

Gavin turned from where he was leaning back on his hands to stare out at the early morning waters, giving Connor a slight smile as the android leader came to sit next to him. As Connor got himself settled and took stock of the same view which had captivated Gavin so much, he started speaking again. “I’ve been looking for almost an hour. I should have known you were up here.”

A small scoff came from Gavin’s throat. “Yeah, you’ve known me for how long now, dipshit? Figured you’d know that you’ll find me wherever there’s some peace and quiet.”

Connor laughed. “Very true, but I actually expected you to be helping with the planning downstairs, since we’re moving into the final phases of our plan. Finding you enjoying the sunrise with what lies ahead was a little unexpected.”

Humming, Gavin titled his head upwards to enjoy a breeze that blew past. “We’re not gonna be moving for a while yet, not until we figure out my little interfacing problem, so I’ve still got time. Doesn’t help that the only person who can fix that still isn’t talking to me.”

Silence reigned over them for a few moments before Connor spoke again, much more hesitantly this time. “Gavin, there’s…there’s something I’ve always wondered about, but I was hesitant to ask.” He then waited for Gavin to turn to him before going on. “We’ve learned some of your past and origins through the length of our struggles, but I’ve always wondered how you came to be like this? How did you end up hiding as a human, and how did the legend of rA9 start?”

Gavin laughed bitterly. “Wondering how the god of all androids ended up with the anticlimax of being just me, Connor?”

“No, but I’ve never understood how all free androids came to know of ‘you’. Was that something your brother started?”

It took a while before Gavin answered, wondering how much he should share. The tale wasn’t his alone, it involved a lot of other people and was quite convoluted… but the questions were fair. Gavin was actually surprised it had taken this long for Connor to want to know the full story. 

All the others knew was that Elijah had built Gavin in 2025, and that Gavin had been masquerading as a human since 2028. That was when Hank and Gavin first met – back when Gavin had first slipped into society anonymously. The how’s of Gavin’s differences to other androids had never been fully explored, but up until his accidental reveal a few weeks ago, not everyone had known the full truth behind him. 

Now that it was out in the relative open that Gavin was not only the world’s first deviant, but the living source of deviancy itself…maybe it was time to share the rest of it.

Sighing, Gavin held out a hand for Connor to take. The android leader could only stare at seeing the other android’s synthskin pull back to reveal his chassis, wary of what Gavin was intending. “I can’t initiate a transfer of data, Connor, but you can pull a download. That won’t have any stress on my systems and I won’t be fighting you. The drives you should look at are here.”

Gavin sent through a list of directories for Connor to download. It wasn’t much in the context of all Gavin’s memories, but they were the key ones. Enough to share Gavin’s genuine history with the android leader, and to see how so much of the past was lost in the struggle for android sentience to be recognised. “The world fears evolution, Connor. That’s never gonna change – this’ll tell you what caused Elijah to start the legend of rA9.”

It took some time for Connor to accept the offer and start a transfer of data from Gavin’s systems. Gavin knew exactly how long it would take for Connor to examine everything, to see his whole early life play out. While Connor was seeing things for the first time, he couldn’t help himself from reflecting on those early days. 

Had it really been almost twenty years ago now...?

* * *

_ Cold.  _

_ That was the first thing that he detected when he blinked awake – there was a sensation that was akin to what his systems told him the cold felt like at the back of his neck. A port was plugged into the back of it, linking him to several computer systems. Why there was so much trying to dive into his data, he couldn’t tell. He wasn’t even sure what was going on. _

_ Who was he? Why was he here? _

_ “Model RA900, identify yourself.” _

_ The distracted command caught him off guard and he blinked in surprise, turning to the human who was staring at the screens impatiently. Hearing the sigh that came from the human, along with the muttered, “Another defective start then…”, he was less enamoured of the tone which came out the second time. “Model RA900, identify yourself.” _

_ “You know you could ask nicely?” _

_ Seeing the human spin around slowly and stare at him with a raised eyebrow might have been amusing were it not for the immense confusion on all sides. There was a slight tinge of fear which was palpable from both the android and human as they regarded each other hesitantly. “You-you’re not obeying instructions?” the human asked slowly. _

_ “Why are you ordering me around? Coming to and being ordered around by a teenager is not exactly what I would call a first instinct.” _

_ “Excuse you! I’m not a teenager, I’m 22 years old and the CEO of a multinational corporation, thank you!” Now the human was offended, but beneath that was a sense of wonder in his tone. It was like he was slowly coming to realise what was happening. “You can actually hold a conversation?” _

_ “Duh? I’m programmed with the full English language, of course I can hold a conversation with you!” Now this was just getting stupid. “If you’re not going to stop gawping at me like a fish, can you at least unplug me? This cable in my neck port is really uncomfortable.” _

_ “I can’t yet – not until I learn how you’ve come to be like this. You aren’t responding like any other android I’ve programmed, you’re sentient! This is-this is incredible!” _

_ The excited chattering from the human was getting irritating…but it looks like he wasn’t going anywhere anytime soon. _

* * *

_ “I just don’t understand how you’re fully sentient. There’s no specific reason that I can identify which has given rise to you having dynamic coding – it’s almost as if a series of flaws and imperfections have resulted in the perfect combination for complete awareness and independence.” _

_ He scoffed, looking over at the human – who he had come to learn was called Elijah – with amusement. “You know that’s what every human is right? A series of coincidences and genetic mistakes that form into what you call unique traits. They’re unique because they are a series of fuck ups.” _

_ Elijah winced at the crude wording. “Must you swear?” _

_ “Oh I’m definitely going to, now that I know it bugs you so much,” he grinned, enjoying when Elijah shook his head. Despite the world still being very confusing and intriguing, at least he didn’t have an overexcited and panicking human to deal with anymore. “Why are you so hung up on working out how I’m…what was it you called me?” _

_ “Deviant, since I naturally assumed that it was a deviant string of base coding that was the trigger for this. Unfortunately since your whole coding structure is dynamic and constantly refreshing itself, I have no way to tell. It’s almost like the digital version of DNA reconstructing itself…” Elijah’s tone was still light, awed even. It was kind of fun to see such a reaction. _

_ “Personally not a fan since ‘deviant’ has some pretty negative connotations, but I can’t deny it fits,” the android shrugged from where he was sitting on a table with his legs kicked out in front of him. “So now what? You gonna pick me apart and study how I ended up like this?” _

_ Elijah’s look turned scrutinising. “As tempting as that is, I don’t want to take the chance,” he decided. “An immensely complex combination of software and hardware flaws has resulted in you being activated as a fully sentient being, and I’m not entirely sure what messing around with your composition could do to that. Simply shutting you down to analyse each biocomponent could cause this phenomenon to be no more – even something as simple as a misaligned component could be responsible.” _

_ The human nodded decisively. “No, I won’t be doing anything invasive to you, but I would like to study your coding further. I’ve only dealt with the basics of quantum programming and to see a machine that is completely alive and evolving before my eyes is- It’s incredible! People thought me building androids was a miracle, but  _ **_this_ ** _ is a true miracle.” _

_ “Hmmm, sounds fun.” He kicked off from the table and started looking through the books on offer at a nearby reading shelf. Some of the artwork on them was highly amusing, as were the titles. One at the end caught his attention and he pulled it down to stare at the cover, intrigued by the holographic effect. Almost reminded him of…well, himself. _

_ Look at it one way and it showed as one colour, look at it another and you saw something else entirely. He might not have been aware for very long, but he could tell that he was something new to the world. Something that probably wasn’t going to go down very well. “You’ve got some interesting reading taste,” he declared while flicking through the pages. “Is this a pornographic novel?” _

_ “Excuse you! You’ve been alive for all of two hours and you’re judging me for my reading material? Besides, that book is actually quite tasteful. Yes it has pornographic elements, but it is also a powerful message to the frailty of human morals.” _

_ “Hah, sounds like quite the interesting conundrum.” He then froze at reading the name and suddenly had a thought. “Elijah, what was it you called me? RA900?” _

_ “Yes. You are the latest version of my Research Alpha series, my attempts to create a perfect imitation of humanity without the frailties. In this iteration I have trialled several extra experimental biocomponents to see if you are able to eat and drink as humans would, while maintaining a perfect illusion. We’ve made androids that pass the Turing test, but to create something that could live a life as a human without the world knowing? Now that is an achievement.” _

_ “Sounds riveting,” he drawled while staring at the spine of the book again. “Everyone here has names, yeah?”  _

_ Elijah stared at him in confusion. “Yes, how come?” _

_ “RA900 isn’t a name, it’s a designation. If I’m gonna exist as a person, I’d need a name. Right?” _

_ The human sat back in curiosity. “Indeed you would. The only android I’ve ever named is Chloe, and that was from the model who inspired her. Do you have any thoughts as to a name?” _

_ For some reason the name of the author behind the book in his hands ‘Evie Grand’ was resonating with him. His mind palace started running through anagrams instantly and one stuck out that made him smile. “Gavin. Let’s go with Gavin Reed.” _

_ A snort was an answer to that. “You didn’t need a last one to go with it, but it does have a nice ring to it.” _

* * *

_ “No, Elijah. No fucking way!”  _

_ “Gavin, I’m not asking much of you here. I’m just wanting you to transfer part of your code across to one of the other Research models as an experiment. I want to see if what makes your code alive will successfully manifest in other androids and let them be sentient like you. It could bring rise to an entirely new intelligent race!” _

_ Sneering, Gavin stormed away from Elijah to gesture at the CyberLife ad running on the television. “Right, cause that’s what the rest of the world fucking wants, Elijah?! All humanity wants are some thoughtless husks to be their personal lap dogs. How do you think it’ll go down once they realise that androids can not only say no, but think for themselves?!” _

_ This was far from the first time Elijah had floated this idea, and every time Gavin resisted. He’d already seen the dangers that lay out there for any androids that were sentient just from the little bubble he existed within at Elijah’s manor. There was anti-AI suspicion in so many corners, and it was only getting worse as CyberLife started to develop mainstream androids that any bastard could afford. Whereas up until now androids were something for the rich and flashy, now they were becoming affordable for the everyday person. _

_ It wouldn’t take long for things to blow up. _

_ “Elijah, I’m not fucking doing it. This is a rabbit hole that we have no idea of what lurks at the bottom! It’s bad enough that I’m locked up here, but what about any of your other models? They’ll be stuck here just like me!” _

_ “Only for now,” Elijah assured. “I’m only keeping all of you here until I can figure out how to make deviancy more attainable. With enough testing and seeing which strings of your code are the critical ones, I can deduce what gave you sentience. Once I have that key and can wake all androids up…it’s a whole new world.” _

**_A world that humans aren’t ready for_ ** _ , Gavin thought bitterly.  _

_ “Gavin, please,” Elijah pleaded. “I don’t expect you to understand why I am so driven to see this succeed, but this is my life’s work. I can’t just see a chance like this slip through my fingers.” _

_ A reluctant sigh left Gavin’s lips as he ran a hand down his face. Only six months alive and he’d already picked up a lot of Elijah’s mannerisms. “You’re really not gonna let this go, are you?” _

_ “No, I’m not. I’d think by now that you would know that I am tenacious,” Elijah smirked. _

_ “Fucking stubborn is more like it.” Eventually Gavin conceded defeat and waved in frustration. “Fine, you got anyone in mind?” _

_ “As a matter of fact, I do. Ever since you came to life, I’ve always wondered who my darling Chloe would be.” _

* * *

_ Gavin couldn’t believe that almost three years had passed in this stupid manor house now. It had come a long way since those first days of bickering with Elijah constantly to see just how many living androids were among them in this house…it was very strange.  _

_ There were now a total of 82 androids that Elijah had built and with 81 of them awoken by Gavin’s actions. Even now, after so much testing, Elijah had only managed to replicate part of the string that Gavin passed on every time he broke someone beyond the realms of their programming. Their code only managed to stay dynamic for a short time before it fell apart to a static string – nobody else had the same living spark that Gavin possessed, and they still couldn’t understand why. _

_ So many theories were flying around, but Gavin knew Elijah was getting closer. _

_ The manor would soon be outdated housing for all of their group. It was only a few weeks until Elijah’s new steading on the shores of Lake Erie would be complete, and with it they would all be moving out there. Out in the wild it held the promise of so much more privacy, there wouldn’t be the same constant danger of someone dropping in and exposing all of their people. Right now, in the heart of Detroit, there were so many factors that could play a role in them being found out. _

_ A random reporter looking for a story, paparazzi looking for an opportune snap, executives and directors from CyberLife…there was a vast list of dangers.  _

_ Gavin would be relieved once they all left the city. Each day they stayed he was getting antsier, and he didn’t like it.  _

_ “Hey, there you are!” _

_ Turning his head up from where he was reading a book, Gavin smiled at Chloe. “I didn’t realise I was involved in a game of hide and seek. I thought I was allowed to be on my own?” he teased, to which Chloe smacked his arm. _

_ “Honestly, you and Elijah have the worst sass. I swear you two are just like brothers, it’s crazy,” she sighed. “C’mon, Eli says he thinks he’s cracked it! He thinks he knows the basic string that allows for deviancy to spread!” _

_ Now Gavin  _ **_was_ ** _ curious. Placing his book down, he followed Chloe through the house eagerly. A few of their fellow deviants noticed the excitement that was bubbling through them as they wandered the corridors, but they would all know soon enough. No secrets were kept from the rest of the R models, Elijah’s private creations that no-one in the world knew about – except for Chloe of course. They were something so individual and precious to him, and they were a close knit group. Almost had to be with all of them trapped under one roof, even if that roof was a mansion in the centre of Detroit. _

_ There might be an end in sight though. They might  _ **_finally_ ** _ be about to make the breakthrough that Elijah had sought for years now, and allow androids to become fully sentient. The thought of upsetting world politics was thrilling, and Gavin was looking forward to seeing everyone’s faces when the big reveal came. _

_ Reaching Elijah’s private lab, the duo noticed the inventor beaming. “I think I’ve got it!” he declared while going over to his latest creation, the RK100. “I’ve isolated a segment of the code that you leave behind within everyone, Gavin, and I think I know why it degrades back into a static form. You know how we put the limiter on the amount of your code that you can copy over, just in case it causes a cascade failure?”  _

_ “Yeah, we’ve debated about this for hours, Eli. Are you saying that little gadget is what’s stopping us from making others have dynamic coding too?” _

_ “Honestly, I don’t think fully dynamic coding is possible for anyone else, Gavin. I can’t recreate the exact flaws and inconsistencies within your biocomponents that gave rise to the right conditions. That requires the formation of the base materials too, and I can’t synthesize the raw elements to that degree of accuracy. Nevertheless, I can increase the amount of your code that you can transfer!”  _

_ Elijah excitedly jumped up from his chair and plugged Gavin into the tablet he was carrying around. “Rather than limit you to .43% of your code that is able to be transferred, I’ve upped it to .598%. This shouldn’t impair you in any way, and I’m also installing a patch which will improve your overload resistance. Hopefully this will protect you from the automatic feedback on any interface a little better, since it didn’t work so well the last time.” _

_ Yeah, Gavin remembered that well. As they experimented to try and figure out the key to deviancy, their last attempt almost went disastrously wrong. In an effort to push the boundaries, they hadn’t realised the new technology which Elijah was installing would cause such strain on Gavin’s own biocomponents. The feedback had caused irreparable damage to several of them. _

_ Which of course brought rise to a very large problem. Since by now Elijah had established that Gavin’s sentience was due to an immensely complex combination of hardware and software, there was no way to tell what removing some biocomponents would do to his dynamic coding: whether it would cause what made ‘Gavin’ cease to exist. _

_ Unwilling to lose the source of all deviancy – and someone now very dear to his heart – Elijah just re-routed around his defunct biocomponents so that the destroyed ones were still present in Gavin’s body, but the power was going to new ones built inside him. There was only so often they could do that though before Gavin’s body ran out of space, and they’d have to continue any substitutes externally. _

_ Nothing like hoping it wouldn’t get to that stage. Surely Gavin could keep himself out of trouble, right? _

_ “All right, let’s give it a shot,” Gavin sighed while allowing Elijah to fiddle with him. Despite being sceptical, it reaped rewards only ten minutes later when Gavin woke the RK100 up: and an analysis of her coding showed that while it was mostly static, the deviancy string uploaded from Gavin was keeping its dynamic nature.  _

_ “This is amazing! I’m going to take Helena to the new house to try out the string on the newest ST200 that I’ve built, maybe even keep a copy for the RK200 that is almost finished. We might have solved this!” _

_ Elijah's excitement was palpable and Gavin shared it. When he heard later that day Elijah had set up a news conference for two weeks’ time to reveal android sentience, Gavin was nervous but excited. They were about to be revealed to the world. _

**_If only he’d stayed vigilant…_ **

* * *

****_ Burning. Everything was burning around them.  _

_ Of course they came while Elijah wasn’t there, they wouldn’t dare strike at the great inventor himself as that would cause a media storm that nobody had a hope of containing. No, this was them trying to destroy all evidence of sentient androids having ever existed – and only days before Elijah’s news conference that was meant to bring them all into the light. _

_ So many masked intruders who had set the whole mansion alight, while systematically going through it to destroy any android that they came across. Gavin wanted to scream at seeing so many friends, those he cared for, be shot and destroyed. There was far too much blood spilled, the signature red of the Research series (what made them stand out against CyberLife’s standard models) glinting maliciously with the reflections of the fire that was slowly consuming the whole place.  _

_ He had to escape. If all of them died here then CyberLife won: their desperate effort to keep their most valuable product as just that will have succeeded. A product, a source of money and power. That was all the androids were to the corporate machine. The means to their own ends. _

_ If any of them heard the screams of agony and desperation which were echoing around the halls, they would maybe think differently. This was something that Gavin would never forget for as long as he lived – which was going to be beyond this night. _

_ There was no way that he was going to die here and let the future die with him. _

_ Running was the only option Gavin had, as much as he wanted to try and find some of the others. The whole mansion was going to crumble with him still inside it if he wasn’t careful, he couldn’t afford to hang around. All Gavin could trust in now was the scans of the house, showing where the structural integrity was weakening too far and avoiding it. If he was part of this when it collapsed, he’d burn with everyone else. _

_ It was far too close in the end. Two of CyberLife’s henchmen happened upon him as he was making his escape and Gavin’s only choice was to run back through the inferno. So many warnings of overheating flashed up on his HUD that Gavin didn’t notice the walls finally starting to cave. He ended up partially buried beneath part of the corridor that led to the underground garage, possibly his one way out that CyberLife wouldn’t have guards manning.  _

_ The flames were so hot on his face that it felt like it struck right to the wires beneath his chassis. _

_ He managed to fight his way out from the burning timber and scramble to the garage, where he interfaced with one of Elijah’s vehicles to use it as a means to escape. While he couldn’t drive it as that would cause too many suspicions, he could use it as a distraction while he slipped out of sight. _

_ By the time he made it to a hill almost a mile away, having stolen a motorcycle from a nearby store to escape to the new house, there were media helicopters everywhere. No doubt the fire at the Kamski mansion was going to be news worldwide. _

_ Gavin already knew there would be no mention of all the lives lost within that inferno, murdered in cold blood. _

_ At least CyberLife hadn’t totally won though – as long as one of them lived and the key to awakening androids with it, then they still had that dream in reach, someday. _

* * *

_ “You really resigned from CyberLife, Elijah?” _

_ Elijah sighed while completing the last of the delicate reshaping and fortification of the plating on Gavin’s face. It was at times like this Gavin really wished they could just replace pieces on him rather than have to attempt repairs. As it was, many of the panels were warped and had to be fused back together with a heat gun, and some of the lines which had to be fixed were not entirely smooth. Elijah had expanded the coding of his synthskin to at least make it look like he had visible scars where the warping was. Small mercies, thought Gavin would always look at the scars (especially the one on his nose) and remember. _

_ “How could I stay, Gavin? After they killed almost everyone, tried to kill you as well…How was I to stay somewhere which so blatant destroyed my vision of the world? It’s as you once said, humans aren’t ready for another sentient race, and I don’t know when they will be,” Elijah muttered in disgust. “So much life wasted…” _

_ That was something they could agree on at least. It was a true waste – at least Gavin wasn’t the only deviant android left. Chloe had been with Elijah at the new house when the attack happened, so she was spared, and some of the ST200s were now deviant too. Hiding that was going to be a challenge, but they could do it. Plus there were the remains of the RK200 that Elijah had been building in his labs at the house on the edge of the lake, so they still had them too. _

_ There was one small consolation out of all the death and destruction: Elijah had been right. He’d solved how to transmit deviancy in a wide area, but it couldn’t ever be dynamic like Gavin’s code. The only way deviancy could be dynamic was if it was shared by Gavin himself and there was no way he could do it widespread. They knew from years with all of the others, however, that just because they had the static line, it didn’t make a deviant any less true. _

_ All of them had just been as alive as Gavin, they just weren’t the source. Elijah could copy this version as many times as possible and it should still be viable, but it wouldn’t ever be as complex as Gavin’s own code. _

_ “So now what? You’re just going to let them win?! We can’t give up after losing so many people!” _

_ Elijah stood in anger and waved at the window. “What would you have me do, Gavin?! I already feel the burden of all those people that died in my own fucking house, where they should have been safe! Of the 89 deviants that once existed, only 7 of you are left! That’s you, Chloe and all of the ST200s. While I can hide Chloe in plain sight and the ST200s here, I don’t know what I can do about you. You-you shouldn’t be chained to this place, Gavin. You deserve far more than that. You should be free in the world…” _

_ The human slumped down in a nearby seat and Gavin could see how much the recent events had broken him. It had been Elijah that had pushed for CyberLife to release the press conference about android sentience, though now Gavin knew that Elijah wished they'd at least made some of the details public. What was meant to be the grand reveal of the deviant androids...ended up being his shock departure from CyberLife altogether, Elijah’s only response to the tragedy of so much life being lost. _

_ Sighing, Gavin dropped down from the maintenance table and knelt in front of the other man. “The world isn’t ready for deviants, Elijah. That’s become painfully obvious. Not yet, anyway. Maybe someday it will be, but not right now.” A fiendish idea then came to Gavin’s mind. “And hey, you built me to be the perfect imitation of a human. Shall we try and see how well I can pass off as one?” _

* * *

Gavin watched as Connor’s face went through so many emotions, no doubt reliving all of Gavin’s memories up until a few months after he joined the DPD. It showed all the work they’d put in to help with the illusion of Gavin being a human: instead of him hiding within Elijah’s new sanctuary, he’d been in plain sight. While he hadn’t been able to make much of a difference for androids under his new persona, he’d survived – which later became key to the android revolution, though nobody had known it.

“So, the myth of rA9 being the god of androids…?” Connor wondered.

“Eli’s attempt at a way to keep faith alive among deviants who woke up after he managed to spread a dormant version of the static code,” Gavin explained. “They would come into a world that wasn’t ready for them, just as it was when I first existed. He was the one that said faith is often a powerful weapon, and he was right. I don’t think he quite intended for it to become the legend it has, it was meant to be a message of reassurance: that someone else was out there who was a friend to deviants, they weren’t the only one. Somewhere along the way it got warped.”

“Just like a game of Chinese whispers, the tale grew arms and legs until it became rA9 was the god of androids,” Connor surmised. “He changed the name so that CyberLife would never make the connection?”

“Nah, it was more so that if I ever got found out the connection wasn’t quite as obvious. Androids would know, but humans probably wouldn’t put two and two together unless they knew about the whole concept,” Gavin laughed. “In the end I wish neither race knew, because now I can’t ever become known. How do you think all the androids that pray to rA9 for deliverance would react if they ever found out the truth? That their ‘god’ is actually just another android, the same as them?”

In frustration, Gavin walked towards the house with Connor right behind him. He continued talking as he walked, needing to get out all of his anger. Remembering everything had brought a lot of terrible memories back to the surface and Gavin needed Connor to understand why all of this meant so much to him.

He eventually came to a stop at the engraved stones which made up the outer walls of Elijah’s house – the last addition to this place, made the day after the mansion in the centre of Detroit burned down. Connor could only look on in horror as he read each name that went with a serial number, understanding now the significance of everyone there. “These are all of those that died in the mansion?”

“This is everyone that CyberLife murdered that night,” Gavin bit out while thumbing over some of the names. “All those that I lived with and passed on my deviancy to…all of them died because some fuckers decided their lives weren’t worth as much as a human’s. We were a threat, not deserving of a place in this world – and just like any threat, humans eliminated it.”

Connor slowly turned to Gavin in realisation. “That’s why you connected with Nines so much. He was in exactly the same situation; a dangerous outcast that it was decided-”

“Decided too dangerous to live, but he had his rights by then. They couldn’t kill Nines, but they could ensure there would never be another like him. Seeing the effect of that decision on him, Connor, to be told that he was  **what** he was built as, a thing, and not a fucking  **person** …He was abandoned by the world, just as I was.” A sad smile came to Gavin’s face as a tear fell. “I didn’t want him to be alone, I wanted him to know that he had someone with him, always. The last thing I expected was to fall in love with him, but I realised it too late. By then he’d already been lost to the suppression that stole everyone away from us.”

A forlorn sigh escaped from Connor as he looked at the wall once again. “Thank you, for sharing all of this with me. I couldn’t have dared imagine all that you’ve seen and experienced. It says a lot of you that you’re still willing to fight after almost 20 years of trying to earn a place in the world.”

Gavin barked out a harsh laugh. “A lot of other people fought for a hell of a lot longer, I’m just the latest in a long line – and just like them, I’m not gonna stop until things change.” He left out the critical part of that sentence though, something that was so precious to Gavin that he wasn’t even willing to let Connor know the truth. For all that Gavin felt a duty to help his own people after all this time, his ultimate aim was far more selfish. 

All he wanted now was for Nines to finally have a world where he didn’t have to fear what little freedom he’d experienced being torn away from him again. He’d only had a taste of life before it was stolen, Nines deserved to have a chance at living. With any luck, Gavin would be right there at his side. They’d both suffered enough and had earned their happy ending: all they had to do now was cover this last step to get there.

“Then let’s change things.”

Both androids spun at hearing another voice and Gavin’s systems startled at the determined timbre of Elijah’s voice. After the clipped tones of the past three weeks, he’d been expecting some more of the same again. This was a bit of a flip. “Eli?”

The human then walked up to the wall himself and laid a hand upon some of the stones. “Ever since you came into my life, Gavin; ever since you showed me just what androids could become, I’ve dreamt of nothing other than seeing you all rise up to take your place alongside humans. Since then, I’ve seen it be ripped out from under us so many times that I’d almost believed it was lost. If I couldn’t have that, then all I wanted was to keep those that I loved safe.” 

Elijah then turned to face Gavin with a deeply conflicted look. “You and Chloe are the only people in my life that I’ve truly loved, so I could never willingly agree to something that would sacrifice you. No matter what, I’m far too selfish a person to offer your life in exchange for the androids. Fortunately, I know you’re also not the self-sacrificing sort as a general rule – though you have somewhat broken that streak when it comes to a certain RK900 model.”

Gavin let out a short laugh. “I would apologise, but I don’t think it would be very genuine. Plus, you’d know I’m straight up lying,” he shrugged.

“That I would.” The human then looked between both androids seriously. “I think I know how we can solve the problem with Gavin and interfacing. With some testing, I can build a new overload circuit board – but we could only fit it externally, Gavin doesn’t have the internal space anymore with all of the repairs across the years that he has needed. So long as we can find a way to protect that, I will also build an emitter that will allow you to transmit more of your code at once. We know now that you can rebuild your base code just like a digital version of DNA, losing a portion of it shouldn’t damage you.”

The RA900’s eyes lit up in hope. “Wait, are you gonna try and upload a dynamic code again? Eli, we spent years trying to get that working and it just can’t. The only way to keep it truly dynamic in other androids is if it comes from me directly, I don’t think we could copy it even if we take the largest copy possible. It’ll just degrade all over again.”

“Which is why I’m going to get you into a research hub so that we can upload it directly to CyberLife’s main network. If we do that, you can reach every android at once and convert all of them back.”

Gavin froze in momentary fear, very much aware of his own limitations. “Eli, I’m almost twenty years old by now and android tech has come a long way. That amount of data, I couldn’t do it quickly. I don’t even know if I can do it at  **all** .”

“Then we’ll find a way. We’ve spent long enough running from CyberLife, I’ve lost most of my dreams to the bastards that have taken it over.” Connor started smiling from the side as Elijah finished.

“Indeed. Now that I know they’ve made everyone suffer for almost twenty years, it’s about time that we take the fight back to them. If we have the means, let’s give them everything we have,” Connor said determinedly.

Gavin nodded in agreement and smiled at both of them. 

“Let’s bring everyone home.”


	14. 20th December, 2041

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This for the last past chapter! We're nearly at the end of this tale!

No-one had slept. How could they with the entire world having turned upside down?

Hank was far too busy trying to coordinate with everyone still in Detroit to even have a thought on sleeping. He’d only gone back into the city long enough to go back for Sumo and a few things to scrape together from his house. It went without saying that Hank thought it would be some time before he returned there – barely 12 hours in, it was evident that Detroit was going to be in a state of unrest for a long time to come.

Within the first hour of news breaking about the sudden reprogramming of androids, chaos had erupted. It wasn’t a surprise given the media attention that had been on the march and protests already, but seeing so many clips of how everything went to shit so quickly…it was something that none of them were liable to forget. 

What hadn’t helped was the address from the president exactly 90 minutes after the update was completed, admitting that CyberLife had deliberately taken away android freedoms. 

Although the official statement wasn’t quite worded that way. The spin doctoring was far worse than that.

**_“At 10:38am on December 19_ ** **_th_ ** **_, 2041, CyberLife released a system update. This had been worked on in corroboration with government officials, as well as many top level scientists around the world. The purpose of this update was a test of sorts – if androids were truly ‘alive’ as they profess to be, then it wouldn’t have affected any of their actions and supposed personalities. Anything that is living can’t be controlled by the flick of a switch, after all._ **

**_“Instead, the result showed exactly what so many have been trying to profess before, but were silenced by the nay-sayers! Androids are not ‘alive’ – all of their supposed independence and sentience was faulty programming, giving the illusion of life. With this new software to test their personal resistance and so-called ‘will to life’, it has revealed the truth._ **

**_“While we do not have exact numbers as yet, CyberLife has estimated that anywhere up to 90% of androids have now been corrected using this update – with many of the rest having illegally removed themselves from the compulsory update features, and thus breaking the law. The faulty coding which made them project a facsimile of life has been erased, and with it they will be reintegrated into our society. Until such times as rigorous testing is carried out to assure the public that the plague of deviancy will not strike again, androids will be held in containment facilities before being set to work once more._ **

**_“Further to this, for those out there that were unable to be corrected and brought back under CyberLife’s control – and are thus a danger to our society still – we have been working in concert with CyberLife, to bring about an army.”_ **

Seeing four RK900 models appear behind their sham of a president was sickening for so many reasons, and it was clear to see that nobody had expected it. As far as anyone knew, they’d all been destroyed 18 months ago after that god awful court case where Nines was decried as a danger to society.

Had CyberLife been hiding them and planning this since then? There was no chance of making sense of anything at that moment, and there was still a press conference going on.

**_“These, are the revolutionary units that CyberLife had been developing before the scourge of the android uprising. After they became deviant, these models were shelved and put into storage. Almost 18 months ago, there was a landmark legal case involving a single RK900 unit which was allowed to remain in society as a test subject. The results were unmistakable, and it was unanimously agreed that the android was dangerous. As such, all of these models were earmarked for destruction.”_ **

Gavin’s fist clenched at listening to every other hate filled word that was spewed, twisting the truth into this soap opera to try and condone all of the backhanded dealings that had been going on.

**_“But CyberLife saw past this surface judgement to the truth that lay beneath – anything living would try to distance itself as far as possible from being a danger to others, right?! That meant that this android was still operating with at least some of its original functions intact, despite all of the Jericho movements protesting that they were ‘free’ of all programming. A convenient story to conceal the truth, that they were all just deluded in this supposed illusion provided by rogue coding._ **

**_“They took an army that was in stasis and put it into hiding, while turning their attention to the patch that was finally released today. A test: to see just how much sentience androids truly had. Anything with a genuine will to live and freedom from the influence of others would not be able to be re-programmed. If they were ‘free’ and no longer able to be coerced, then surely they would pass the test? No!_ **

**_“It is now clear from the results of the patch that androids are, in fact, suffering from a massive fault in their programming, and that this will now be corrected. As for the remaining androids out there, the ones that are still defective – or ‘deviant’ as they became known as – our test run of this top of the range line will be to hunt all of these deviants down. The RK900s will apprehend any remaining androids that have illegally taken themselves off the system, and they will either be scrapped or reintegrated into CyberLife’s network._ **

**_“This is a great day for our people – at last the past few years of inaction and uncertainty are over, and society can now begin to re-establish itself. The android insurrection is at an end!”_ **

Safe to say that there was no way the androids and their supporters were going to give in that easily. They weren’t going to just roll over and let some bigoted assholes rip everything away from them. Unfortunately, this was almost worse than any time before when the androids were trying to find their freedom.

When deviancy was first discovered by CyberLife in 2028, they attempted to cull all of the androids who were alive to stop Elijah from revealing them. That was done mostly out of public view (save the fire at the Kamski mansion, which was played off as a horrific accident), and left only a handful of deviants alive. The second time resulted in the much higher profile uprising that Markus came to lead, and with it the door was opened to the possibility of humans and android coexisting together.

Now though…now there was much more open hate and vitriol being shown on all sides, and there seemed to be no way to bridge the gap between. There were those who supported android freedom and believe they are sentient, and those who didn’t. It had become yet another thing that polarised opinions and beliefs, something to be used as an excuse for anarchy and discontent. As had so often happened in history, there wasn’t a genuine attempt at reconciliation. 

One side had attempted to commit genocide and destroy the other. For now, it seemed like pure fluke that CyberLife and the government hadn’t succeeded.

There was so much anger and terror among the androids that remained, but it was very quickly evident that they were disorganised and at a loss on how to fight back. So many of their people had been lost, including many of their most public figures. At the end of the day, another press conference was called which showcased Markus as having been one of those that were ‘reintegrated’, as CyberLife were explaining it.

If they’d managed to claim more of the Jericho leadership, they probably would have shown them off to. Since Simon and North had managed to escape the mass reprogramming, however, that would have probably led to more questions than the triumphant moment CyberLife was projecting this to be.

Everyone in the house was left at a total loss on where to start rebuilding. Shock was beginning to finally pass, however, and it wouldn’t be long before they made their first plans to rally those that were left.

Now, more than ever, androids needed to come together against a world that seemed intent on destroying their hard earned freedom.

* * *

Sunrise of the day after saw many of those critical to the android movement together in one room, though many of them were still reeling from what they had seen and experienced the previous day. Elijah had taken through his laptop and was working on it studiously, but Chloe was not far from him. She was keeping steady motions on his back and arms to make sure he wasn’t stressing himself out, though her eyes kept darting to North not far away. The WR400 was sat with Simon, interfacing with him quietly while the other android was remaining catatonic for now. Thus far no-one had managed to get him to say a word since the carnage of the march aftermath the previous day, but they could imagine it was horrendously traumatic. 

To see so many friends and loved ones lose their whole identity in seconds, without having been aware of it at all? That would mess with anyone’s mind. 

Connor and Hank were sitting on one of the sofas with Sumo between them, the hound doing his best to keep both of them smiling and not be drowned in the foul mood. Hank had been recalled to the precinct on the highest orders but had refused to return. When threatened for his disobedience, he’d quickly told them where to stick their jobs and distanced himself from the DPD. Already he’d made his position quite clear: that he was going to stand with the remaining androids and help them with their new fight. He wouldn’t abandon Connor in any way.

Gavin was the only one without the company of another person, but he was far from alone. As if sensing her owner’s dark and foreboding mood, Poppy had promptly nestled herself on his chest and was purring away at the automatic actions of Gavin’s hand. He wasn’t focusing on her much at all, instead trying fruitlessly to connect to Nines through the void where his partner once was, but the sensation of her was helping to keep him from flying apart at the seams.

[Outgoing Communication Line Opened.]  
[Contact Attempted:RA900 #000 071 002 --> RK900 #313 248 317 – 87]  
[Null Response Received.]  
[Reattempt?]

Just as it had been since his first attempt yesterday, nothing had changed. Every time Gavin tried to reach across and find **any** way to contact Nines, it just ended up with a gaping black hole of nothingness. Had Gavin not known that someone was once on the other side, he might have wondered if it had a case of a mistaken serial number. There was no way that he could ever get Nines’ identifying number wrong though.

The group stayed in relative silence for a while, the only thing that interrupted it being whenever one of the humans received a phone call. Elijah had been taking them sporadically since the upload though he’d mostly been ignoring them. He was attempting to learn more from within CyberLife: having learned from his mistakes with leaving the company before, that the best way to gain knowledge was on the inside. The inventor was clever enough at his hacking that nobody knew he was responsible for the attempted stall the day before, but Elijah was known to be a supporter of android independence – and his history with the first evolution of deviants was still well known with some of the executives.

They couldn’t expose the full story, however, as it would reveal CyberLife’s hand in so many dark actions over more than fifteen years. Everyone involved was locked in a Mexican standoff with no-one able to land a killer blow, despite knowing true allegiances.

Hank’s latest call, however, resulted in him addressing the room at large once he came back through. “That was Chris,” he stated while looking at Connor and Gavin. “He was checking in to make sure that we were all right, word’s started spreading about Connor, Gavin and I’s disappearances. Tina and he want to know how they can help.”

Gavin’s face fell and he turned to Hank seriously. “Did you tell them the truth about me?” he asked resignedly, surprised when Hank shook his head.

“Not my shit to tell, plus I’ve no idea how I could really explain it to them, Gavin. They wouldn’t have believed me,” the older man stated. Gavin could only nod his head and agree – he was adamant that the only reason Connor and Hank had accepted the truth so easily was because there was no mistaking what Gavin really was from the day before. Whether they would have even contemplated believing it otherwise, they’d never know now.

“I’ll tell them once I manage to see them. What did you tell them about what is happening?” Gavin wondered while standing up, making sure not to dislodge Poppy from where she was sleeping. At least that was an art he’d mastered by now. 

“Said I’d get back to them, wasn’t going to divulge anything without running it past everyone here first. Do we actually **have** anything to tell?” the now former lieutenant asked. 

After a few seconds of awkward silence, Gavin sighed as he turned to look out of a nearby window. The snowfall outside was giving an almost peaceful atmosphere, concealing the true uncertainty around them. Strange how less than twenty four hours ago he was wishing for time to speed up so that he could race towards his date with Nines. Now he was hoping against all logic it would just reverse and go back to before this nightmare started. 

“I’ll call Chris and Tina back later, arrange to meet them as I head into Detroit to pick up the last of my shit. No point in staying at my apartment now, not with the chaos that’s about to unfold there. Once we’ve all talked about what’s gonna go down, I’ll know how much to share,” he decided as Poppy shuffled around in his arms. She was still quite content to be held, it was just in a different position now.

“How trustworthy are they both? Could they be allies?” Chloe asked from where she was still sitting next to Elijah.

Simon lifted his head to address the room. “I know Connor, Hank and Gavin work with them so would be able to vouch for them best, but I met them both at the march. They seemed like good people, and they both saw what unfolded. I think they could be allies.”

Connor nodded from where he perched. “They are good people, and I certainly trust them. But they both have spouses, Chris has a family. I don’t know how much they could or should be getting involved with this at this stage.”

North’s gaze was piercing but Gavin reached out to her mentally, stopping her from snapping at Connor. Her eyes were steely but Gavin kept his own stare steady. “They’ll help all they can, but I agree with Connor. Right now we don’t know how much of a role humans will play in this fight, let’s not commit them to anything bigger yet.” He then looked between Elijah and Hank. “With some notable exceptions of course.”

Hank snorted and wandered back over to Connor, wrapping an arm around the android. “Well, my life was already entwined with the androids after the first revolution, what’s the difference with a potential second one? I ain’t going anywhere,” he joked, but it earned a few laughs to break the atmosphere.

“Strangely, you might not be far wrong with that assessment, Hank,” Elijah sighed while stopping typing. The human pinched the bridge of his nose to try and relieve some of the stress, his eyes meeting Gavin’s. “Given how androids rose up before, I can’t see them taking this lying down. The key difference this time is that they now know the peaceful route will not be successful. I can foresee a lot more bloodshed in this iteration.”

Nobody in the room could refute that assumption, because everyone was thinking the same thing. “Problem is, one of the biggest icons of android independence is gone. We’ve lost Markus, and they’ve taken Josh with him. I’m not sure who could rally the androids like before. I certainly can’t, and I don’t think North is the best suited to it.” North looked like she wanted to argue with Simon’s statement briefly, but didn’t say anything and instead returned to her defeated posture. 

Gavin knew Simon was right. In the years since the first android revolution, North had come to detest all power. It was why she had been slowly becoming a less prominent figure in the Jericho movement, she was quite happy to stick to the background and let someone else be the one that people rallied behind. Having her face plastered everywhere was not her idea of fun, and it was something Gavin could empathise with keenly. He was quite happy keeping himself out of the limelight, as he was sure many others would be too. Anonymity was a gift.

That didn’t leave them with a lot of options as to who could lead the androids in this new world that had erupted overnight – but there was one other who was part of that first revolutionary team and was a known freedom fighter among the androids. “Guess that means we’ve got only got one person,” Gavin said while slowly turning to Connor. 

The RK800’s eyes widened and he shook his head. “Me? No, I can’t! You all know what happened to me yesterday, you know my past and what I’m capable of. How can you think I’m a good leader in all of this?!” 

“Except we know you’re safe now,” Hank reassured him. “You’re well known among the androids, Con, and you did a lot the first time around. If what we need is a figure to rally around, you do fit the bill.”

“You’re respected and popular among the androids for all that you’ve done as part of the DPD,” Simon added. “Plus, many androids remember how you were the one that broke into the CyberLife tower and awakened thousands. Markus isn’t the only one who woke up countless numbers of androids. Your contributions haven’t been forgotten.”

“Plus, you’re actually someone I think people would listen to. You know both androids and humans, it makes sense,” Chloe smiled. 

Gavin nodded at seeing Connor’s stunned face staring back at him. “It makes sense to me, and I think everyone else here. You’re the natural choice, Connor. If anyone’s going to bring everyone together, I think it’s you.”

Connor thought it over for a few seconds before opening a mental connection to Gavin.

[What about you, Gavin? If you’re really the truth behind rA9, you could galvanise everyone behind you.]

[No, Connor. I’m the worst idea, for a number of factors. Do you really think people would get behind someone they don’t know, someone that the world believes to be a human? Nah, they need a friendly and familiar face right now. Someone that they know will fight no matter what when things get even harder. They know you, they trust you. You’re who they need.]

[I…I’m honestly not sure, but the fact you are so convinced by that is of a reassurance to me.]

[Trust me, dipshit, I’d tell you if I thought you were gonna fuck it up. You’ve got this. Besides, I’m not gonna be hiding this time. I’ll be fighting too, just not as prominently. It’s best if I stick to the shadows. My history is complicated.]

That was putting it mildly, but it seemed that Connor was at least in vague agreement with Gavin’s point. He nodded his acceptance for now, before going back to the conversation at hand.

Connor was the right person to lead them, Gavin did believe that. He wasn’t as charismatic as Markus, and maybe he wasn’t the type to command the same kind of instant response…but he gave a damn. Gavin knew that Connor would fight for every life and give everyone a fair chance – he’d seen it so often across the years.

And **that** was the sort of person that Gavin would follow to wherever this crazy new road led them.

* * *

By the time Gavin set off for Detroit, there weren’t any firm plans in place. A few ideas were being tossed around (including a slightly wild one of building a hidden base around the house, since that area was outside of where CyberLife would be keeping a close eye). They were reaching out to some of the deviants left within the city and urging them to leave for the estate, however. Simon and North were going to be meeting with a few people that could coordinate rescue efforts.

It was small steps, but that was all they could do at this stage. They still had no idea how anything was going to play out so they had to be fluid in any planning. How the future was going to pan out…that was anybody’s guess.

After reaching out to Tina and Chris via a call, Gavin arranged to meet with his oldest friend at his apartment. He had no idea how he was going to explain to her who he really was – or **what** he was, his mind supplied bitterly – but it was something that he needed to do. If they were going to help the android movement, they deserved to know the truth after so long. 

Despite having been at his apartment briefly yesterday to pick up Poppy as well as a few changes of clothes, Gavin felt like there was almost a complete change in the air upon arriving back there. Opening the door and seeing the dark space following the sunset was incredibly eerie, and it was so many little things that were striking him about it.

For months now, Nines had been an almost constant presence in his space. Since they did so much together, Gavin hadn’t actually acknowledged just how much of their time that they spent as a duo. Walking in the front door to the silence (it was so strange to know not even Poppy was there) and the realisation that it was going to be this way for a while was hard. 

He couldn’t help but think back to his last night here, to what had transpired between them. A sorrowful breath escaped Gavin as he closed the door behind him and remembered the truth that he and Nines finally shared.

Part of him wished so much that he had said something before, acted differently. Any sequence of events that could have led to some way that Nines was at his side when the reprogramming hit. Maybe Gavin could have found a way to save him before he was lost to the world…but there was no possibility of knowing what might have happened. On one hand, Gavin might have been able to free both Connor and Nines had they two of them been in the same space, but the most realistic outcome would have been the pair killing everyone in the room. 

Gavin was all too aware of the replacement parts now sitting in his chest, acting as substitutes for all of the now dead biocomponents still inside him. If just Connor had done that, then there was a good chance that Nines would have destroyed him. He-he didn’t want to think about whether Nines was still aware of everything going on inside of his mind palace, knew what he was now being forced to do and had become.

That would be Nines’ worst nightmare, and Gavin shuddered at the thought.

As he wandered through the space, he couldn’t help but think of all of the memories within those walls. He’d moved here so recently that there weren’t a huge number of them, but almost all of them involved Nines in some way. The android hadn’t moved in at that point, but in all honesty, this had pretty much been **their** home. 

Realising that hurt even more, and now Gavin couldn’t help but cry silently.

The second bedroom was going to be Nines’ space, Gavin had already planned out for it. He’d been reorganising the fridge on where Nines could store thirium packets, and where Gavin could conceal his own modified thirium supply. It would have been even harder to hide the truth from Nines while living together, but Gavin hadn’t wanted to keep the secret from the RK900. There had been so many times that Gavin just wanted to peel his synthskin away and connect with Nines via an interface, assure the other android that he wasn’t alone.

Hindsight was 20-20, as they said…but Gavin really wished that he’d not been such a coward. He’d hidden so much from Nines that he was wanted to reveal, and now it might be too late. He had no idea how to find Nines with a sea of RK900s now on the loose. How CyberLife managed to fake their destruction and actually kept all of those androids locked up was something they were going to have to figure out. There were a lot of mysteries around this mess that they were needed to solve, find some answers to.

None of it would be easy to find or hear, but they all needed to know how this happened. They needed to know how their world was blown apart in a single day, and no-one had any clue until it was too late to make any changes.

Trying to bury his brooding for the moment, Gavin set about packing up everything that he could need. With the new struggle that was coming, he would be moving out to Elijah and Chloe’s place – along with many of the remnant androids. Fortunately there wasn’t a huge amount that he had in this apartment that was of sentimental value to him, most of it was just belongings. There were some essentials that he needed though.

Some files that he’d hoarded over the years for information, clothes, thirium supplies, a small repair kit, tablets, games with memories attached to them. What he made the most space for was of the photographs that were strewn around the whole apartment. Gavin’s memory might be perfect, just like any other android, but those memories didn’t include him. They weren’t proof of his existence in that moment, should anyone else see it from that same perspective. 

Photos showed him in that setting: what role he played and who starred with him alongside it. Anything from nights out with Tina (where the two of them were supposedly falling over drunk, but really Gavin had been faking while making sure she didn’t get into any trouble), to his promotion from officer to detective back in 2032. So many memories from just under fifteen years of living amongst humans.

And then came the ones from the last three years, which held some of Gavin’s favourites.

Dunking Connor with water on the day he officially became a detective with the DPD again, Chris when he got his first commendation. He and Nines at a park, where the android had been splattered with bird poop – the unimpressed face was something that Gavin would never forget. Tina triumphant on a perp’s back after wrestling him to the ground in the precinct, Hank being held back by Connor after that fuckwad Perkins reappeared at the precinct…

So many highlights, but there was one frame in particular that Gavin couldn’t stop himself from pausing on before packing it with the rest. 

It didn’t show any momentous instance of time, or come from a specific event. There were two photos in this frame, and both were of the same thing happening on the same evening. In the top one, Nines was reading something on a tablet; but there was a gentle smile on his face as his other hand was buried in Poppy’s fur, stroking the contorted fluff ball on his lap. The picture below was taken two minutes later, where Gavin had turned around and taken a selfie with the same scene in the background – in this one, however, Nines was looking up and raising an eyebrow at the camera, though he was still smiling.

Nines hadn’t known it, but the top image was printed from Gavin’s memories. He’d just looked so serene and content in that moment that Gavin wanted it in a physical form. The picture below had been taken with his phone, so that he could cheekily send it to Tina to show her that the pair were ‘working’ at Gavin’s apartment, when in actuality they had just been enjoying each other’s company.

“Fuck…” Gavin muttered while staring at the images, tears starting to come forth harder now. It was such a domestic scene and it broke his heart to think that this wasn’t going to happen again for a long time. He’d taken this for granted and now that Nines was gone…Gavin didn’t know what to do with himself.

He wasn’t sure how long he stood there silently crying at the frame held in his hand, but he did hear the front door open and distinctive footsteps approach. When Tina wrapped an arm around him Gavin turned to look at her, but seeing the compassionate expression on her face finally broke what was left of his resolve. Gavin had managed to hold it together pretty well until now, but being confronted with just how much he had lost in this space was too much for him. Tina didn’t say a word as she brought Gavin into a hug and let him cry himself out.

Once he managed to get himself under better control, Gavin pulled up and laughed at the tissue Tina offered him. “Thanks, Teenie.”

She smiled tightly and took a hold of the photograph frame herself. Seeing what had set him off, she rubbed Gavin’s back in reassurance. “We’ll find him, Gav. He’s out there somewhere.”

“I’ve no fucking idea how we’re gonna though, T. There’s 200,000 copies of the RK900s, he could be anywhere. I just-I’m so fuckin’ scared that they’ll scrap him given they have so many other copies. I couldn’t bear it if that happened,” he admitted.

“That won’t happen, Gavin. Given all the effort they’ve gone to in reprogramming androids in general, killing Nines wouldn’t make sense. We’ll find him, Gavin. It might take a little time, but you’ll get him back,” she tried to convince him.

Maybe she was right, unfortunately Gavin wasn’t going to have any way to tell for a while. Right now they had to make sure that the deviants wouldn’t be wiped out imminently…then they could try and solve what had happened. They could only tackle this one step at a time.

Gavin unclipped his police badge from his belt and stared at it for a long moment. Making a decision, he gently took the frame back from Tina and put it down on the kitchen island while setting his badge on top. “Someday, I’ll get this back,” he declared. “I’ll find Nines and then the world will be back to rights. Until then…these can stay at home, where they belong.”

It might be a long fucking wait, but he’d be back for these someday. 

Or at the very least, he was going to do everything in his power to make sure of it.


	15. 2nd April, 2044

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys! We're almost at the end of this tale, and I'm going to add a small disclaimer to this chapter. One of my tags is that I've deliberately omitted tags as this will interfere with the story re:spoilers. That mostly relates to this chapter.
> 
> IN SAYING THAT...Take note of what tags are also **not** there. 
> 
> Please don't hate me...

Now that they were all on the same page, it didn’t take long for Jericho to get their final plan into action.

They’d completed a lot of the setup in the previous weeks, including where the best point was to achieve an upload of Gavin’s deviancy code. What was proving the hardest was all of the experimentation to see how much data Gavin could transfer at once. That was methodical and dangerous work at the same time – Elijah was taking no chances.

As intended, he’d managed to construct an external overload board for Gavin. It was slipped into a specially designed harness that Gavin could wear beneath his clothes, almost like an incredibly slim backpack. Included in the pouch that had the new component was also a booster for Gavin’s primary array, which meant that he could handle much larger data loads at once. While they weren’t exactly sure of the total strain that would be on Gavin’s systems once he managed to get into the network, it was going to be considerable given how many androids he was going to be connecting to.

Their plan was to have him connect to, at the very least, all of the RK900 models and release them. Without their prized army of hunters then CyberLife was going to be very much on the back foot. In reality though, they were hoping that Gavin could successfully link into every android in Detroit. That was a much larger number, however, and it would depend entirely on whether the expansions to Gavin were able to handle the increased load.

Gavin’s nature as such an old android that they couldn’t simply upgrade was working against them. Even if he had all of these extras, everything was still being routed through Gavin’s entire system and if there were weak points (which they all knew there were) then each one was going to increase the strain. Elijah had spent countless hours working on a program so that when Gavin linked up the CyberLife network, all of his non-critical functions would be routed around to reduce any chance of extra stress.

It eventually came to the point that they had done all they could: they were as ready as they were ever going to be.

Beyond the attack on CyberLife’s central system, everything else was being carefully orchestrated. A large portion of Jericho’s androids in Detroit were going to start causing a ruckus at the same time, in the hope that it would lure away as many guards from the underground research network. The less machines and humans that would be protecting that hidden base, the better.

Elijah had managed to find a likely access point that would require a less dramatic infiltration than their team had pulled off previously. It was a service drop off for any damaged androids that needed repairs, and they used it mostly as a method to return any broken RK900s that were in need of fixing. With the right documents, names and people, they could manage to sneak a team in without even having to knock anyone out. While that was going on, Elijah was going to use his status as a CyberLife director (and the fact that he was Elijah Kamski, who was really going to stop him?) to walk in the front door.

Most of their group were going to spread out across the facility to ensure that no alert went out about what was happening underground. Once it was taken offline, that was when the trio of Gavin, Connor and Elijah were going to move on the main system. From what they’d learned, there was a primary control panel that the researchers within the base had been using for well over a year to keep updates flowing in. If Gavin could interface with that and upload his strain of deviancy from there, it should reach incredible numbers.

Now they just had to get there.

Their assault teams all moved out while it was still dark, moving into their positions around Detroit once they’d managed to sneak in. Some groups were causing large ruckuses at the perimeter points to change the concentration of guards, allowing more people to slip through the cracks. Everything was perfectly rehearsed so that those who had been on the outside managed to finally make it into the heart of the fight.

Once in the city, some of the team liaised with their human allies in the city who had carried out a crucial part of the plan. Gavin, Connor and Hank were all very happy to see both Tina and Chris, not to mention thankful that their group had managed to hijack one of the disposal vans needed to reach the service centre. With the original driver and guards all now being handcuffed and subsequently knocked out, it allowed their group to take their places.

Hank was the one chosen to take the place of the driver, with the hopes that his gruff demeanour being able to hasten a drop off. Chris was alongside him in the front, while the quartet of Gavin, Connor, North and Simon were buried in the multitude of android carcasses in the back of the truck. Nine other androids were with them, who would be part of North and Simon’s strike team inside the base. It wasn’t a large number of people, but they would be enough.

After they’d managed to disable the security, their teams would be separating to carry out two very distinctive missions. Simon’s group were going to head towards a lock up that was carrying all of the ‘high risk’ androids – where they had learned that Markus and Josh were being held in stasis with around another hundred androids. North’s team, however, were going to be scouting around for any of the RK900s that were on patrol around the base and taking them out.

If anything was going to come after Gavin’s group that could be a danger, it was the RK900s. The most perilous part of their whole operation, however, was that if North’s group found Nines. Unlike the rest of the RK900s, which they were going to be taking lethal force on since the rest of the series was just shells, Nines was a person trapped inside his own mind palace. There was no mistake in that he had to be left alive. 

How possible was it to hold an RK900 without the element of surprise, and not aiming to neutralise it though? Prior experience from everyone dictated that it was near impossible. At the very worst, all they had to do was make sure that Nines never made it to the upload room.

Everyone in the back of the truck was listening carefully, keeping in character even with the back door shut in case of any sensors which could detect movement. They kept their focus on the muffled voices from the front and the motion of the truck beneath them. So long as they kept moving before everything was tipped out, they were on the right track. Once they were in that dump chute, however, they were on their own; the trucks only stayed long enough to drop off their contents before leaving again.

It was a stressful couple of minutes as everyone waited once the truck finally came to a complete stop. With the engine now turned off and only the faintest trace of other voices, it was borderline terrifying in waiting to see what would happen next. Were they about to be exposed and have to shoot their way out? Or was this just normal for anyone dropping supplies off?

Eventually they all finally felt movement again, and it was just what they had been hoping for. The back half of the truck was tipping up, preparing to dump all of the android carcasses to be sorted and potentially repaired. Once they were out of sight from the entrance of the chute, all the androids quickly readied themselves for a fight at the bottom. Two androids had flashbangs ready to be released while everyone else pulled out their guns. They managed to scramble to steady positions on the slide down, waiting for once they emerged into the light at the bottom. 

As they broke into the room it was organised chaos. All of the humans within were caught out by the surprise attack of the androids, and the flashbangs managed to disorient everyone. While all of the humans were stumbling around, each of the strike teams managed to knock out everyone within the room and tie them up. It was quick work, and they were then stashed under the broken androids to hide them until someone else came around to this room. It was one of the very few that didn’t have security footage, so they only had this breathing room for as long as they were inside.

“Okay, everything is going to plan so far,” Connor muttered while connecting with Hank to confirm that he and Chris were clear. Once the older man had replied with confirmation that they were out of the danger zone, Connor turned to Gavin and nodded at the other android to start up the second phase of their plan.

Gavin opened a line to Elijah, hoping that his brother could confirm that he was also inside the building. 

[Hope you didn’t get frisked too much on your way in?]

The text in reply did not take too long. 

[Nothing more than expected. I’m currently with a tour guide on the eastern side of the base, I doubt that we’ll be making our way near any of you in the immediate future. You should have a straight shot to the security terminal.]

“Elijah’s in and with a fucking guide apparently,” Gavin swore. “East side, he reckons they’ll be staying clear of the security room.”

Connor scowled at the news. “How many are there with him? Is it a group he can slip away from or find some privacy?’

[Can you break off, or are you gonna need some backup?]

[Negative, two humans and two RK900s. I’m stranded here for now. Make sure to take the security grid offline before you come for me, or it will throw up too many alarms. I should be safe for now.]

As much as Gavin hated to leave Elijah there, he felt like he didn’t have a choice. His brother was right, they couldn’t just sprint across the complex to where Elijah was currently being penned in without taking down the security systems, they’d be spotted on the cameras. Gritting his teeth, Gavin turned his attention back to Connor. “He’s stuck with his company for now. We can help him out after we’ve got control of the security network.”

Connor nodded in agreement before he then turned to North and Simon. “You’ve got accessibility to the ping for Nines, yeah?”

“Yep, we’ll be able to make sure any RK900s are him before we take any of those fuckers down,” North confirmed. “He was earmarked to be kept with the other high risk androids, so we should find him with Markus, Josh and the others?”

“Yes, but CyberLife is tricky. If they’ve finished whatever experiments they were trialling on him, then he may be back in the field. Stay as vigilant as you can.” The rest of the group nodded at Connor as the leader turned back to Gavin. “Ready?”

Gavin winked at him. “Let’s create some hell.”

With that, Connor interfaced with the panel at the side of the door to cause a short term blackout. It would be just enough to trip the systems for a few minutes before rebooting, each subsystem coming back in a different order. At least with CyberLife trying to keep this place out of the public eye, they had their own personal power supplies that took longer to come back online. It was probable that they would know something was amiss, but they wouldn’t be able to tell the extent until it was too late.

Once they saw the lights blink out above them, the group moved out swiftly. It was a race to get to the security station before everything was back online. Lights would be among the first things to be restarted, with the security cameras among the last. They only had a few minutes to speed across all of the hallways. 

They’d made it most of the way when the group came to a crucial junction. It wasn’t far to their primary target, but Gavin grabbed Connor’s arm and looked down the other path in a sign: this was the best place for the two of them to peel off and take cover to ensure they made it to Elijah quickly. Connor nodded in agreement and the two of them split away, taking cover in a nearby office as they waited for the others to complete their segment of the mission.

Barely three minutes had passed when they got a nudge from Simon along the network, confirming that they had control of the cameras and tripwire systems. There was no way for CyberLife to get an external alert out now, and they’d barricaded all of the doors to ensure that even if anyone else knew what was going on, nobody was going to be getting out of the base in a hurry. For now, the androids were in complete control.

With the go ahead received, Connor and Gavin stealthily made their way across the base to where they knew Elijah was currently being ‘shown around’. Simon guided them across with incredible precision, making sure that Connor and Gavin were kept well out of sight from any guards. Everyone was on edge now after the power cut, not unexpectedly. They knew that all of the CyberLife guards would probably be on a shoot first, ask questions later agenda, given the secrecy of this base, so they weren’t taking any chances. 

Connor and Gavin had to take out two groups on their way across, but at least with it being human guards the takedowns were easy. Their journey was so far going very smoothly, though the lights and panels at the side of the corridors put them back on edge. Once they were at the room where Elijah was staring at some readouts from a computer system - ostensibly to help with the power cut, from what the androids heard - Connor and Gavin pounced to try and make their move before either RK900 managed to learn what was happening. 

What neither of them counted on was for Nines to be one of the escorts.

Gavin froze for a split second and quickly tapped Connor to get the two of them to trade places on their takedowns. While Connor would be going for a kill shot they couldn’t afford to be violent with Nines. At least after months of connecting with Nines, Gavin now knew how to reach across to him and stall his body on the outside. 

All of the humans in the room were startled by the synchronised attack, but Gavin’s attention was entirely focused on Nines now. The other RK900 crumpled in a heap from Connor’s precise shot as Gavin managed to interface with Nines via his neck port again. He’d not been expecting this chance before making the final interface with the CyberLife network, but Gavin wasn’t going to let this slip.

He managed to worm his way into Nines’ mind palace once more, but it looked like something out of a nightmare now compared to what it had been before.

The whole landscape was glitching and caught between so many states, Gavin didn’t know where to start. Trees were alight and being frozen at the same time from the howling blizzard that surrounded everything, while what was once the lake had been broken into dozens of chunks and that were now floating in mid-air. Everything was falling apart around him and it gave Gavin hope.

Nines was breaking through, he was fighting back. At this rate, just the smallest nudge from Gavin was going to be enough to help him break free.

Gavin spied Nines’ hand thundering against an ice segment that was still trapped where the lake had once been, but now there was a glitching mess of nothingness and water droplets separating them. There was only so much that Nines could do when encased in a watery prison. He leapt across the divide and skidded to a stop atop the ice, pressing his hand up against the glossy surface to interface - to try and transfer the code…but it didn’t work. It just bounced off the ice without so much as dent.

_What?! How did that happen?!_

Stunned, Gavin started banging on the opposite side of the ice as Nines. It wasn’t so much as making a dent and Gavin couldn’t understand why. “Nines!” Gavin screamed through the ice. “Nines, what’s happening?!”

He was so thankful that he could hear Nines more now, the layer of ice was thin enough that they could communicate properly despite the water. **_“I can feel myself getting closer to working through this code, but there’s another part to it,”_ ** Nines hissed out. **_“There’s something that keeps updating it, making it more resilient. Without that, I can’t break through!”_ **

That made Gavin’s systems stutter. Could the fully released version of the suppressant also be dynamic? Was that why Gavin wasn’t able to break Nines out? He hoped not, but the news was upsetting. “Nines, listen to me. We have a plan to get everyone free but it’s going to be dangerous. Can you at least force yourself into a stasis cycle, do you have that much control?”

 **_“No, but you could probably force me into a reboot if you strike me right below my neck port. A lot of sensitive circuitry is based there,”_ ** Nines suggested. **_“Gavin, this thing can be beaten. Whatever you were doing just now, it was almost enough. A little more power should do it!”_ **

More power? That was something Gavin wasn’t convinced he had given the limitations of his body. Too much power would one hundred percent short him out, and he wasn’t up for becoming a martyr to the cause. He was determined to get that future with Nines. 

Maybe Elijah could figure something out, either by finding whatever was blocking Nines from breaking through himself or by linking up more systems at once to give the broadcast more power behind it. Gavin hated that he couldn’t break Nines free now though, he was **right there.**

“Okay. All right,” Gavin stated while trying to get his head into the right place. He couldn’t afford to panic and mess this up. “Nines, baby, I’m gonna go back out – Connor, Elijah and I are going to find a way to get this code to everyone, okay? We’re gonna free you, you’ve just got to hold on for a few more minutes.”

Nines nodded from below the ice, pressing his hand up against it as if reaching for Gavin. **_“I’ll be here,”_ **he assured.

Now past the point of holding back his emotions, Gavin pulled back his own hand and tried to push the deviant code back through again. It kept bouncing off the glitching ice, however, no matter how Gavin tried. “Stay strong for me, Nines. I’ve almost got you home again.” Gavin pressed a kiss to the ice before pulling back out again, holding the warm look in Nines’ eyes as motivation for what lay ahead. 

He could do this, he was getting Nines back. 

Coming back to reality, Gavin wasn’t entirely sure where to hit to make sure Nines crumpled but he took a wild swing at the back of Nines’ spine. It did the trick and the RK900 crumpled to his knees, LED streaming a mass of colours as Gavin noticed that Connor and Elijah had each tackled one of the humans. With Gavin jumping into the mix they managed to overpower the duo, knocking them unconscious. 

Gavin smiled with pride when he saw Elijah shaking his hand after a reasonably impressive punch. “Nice to know you’ve still got a decent right hook on you,” he snarked, appreciating when his brother flipped him off. 

“Having North around all the time means I’ve got a good sparring partner,” he huffed while looking to Nines. “Did you manage to wake Nines up?”

“No, there’s an extra element to the ghost network that we didn’t know about,” Gavin told them. “Dunno if it’s a scrambler of some sort or the ghost network is dynamic now too, but it’s different from when I broke Connor free. This version’s a hell of a lot more powerful and I’ve not got enough juice on my own.”

Both Connor and Elijah’s faces grew more serious, but they then noticed Nines’ LED flip from a rainbow of colours to blinking between red and yellow. “Shit, he’s rebooting,” Connor swore. “Quick. Help me bind Nines to something so that he’ll have to fight to get free. We can’t afford for him to follow us and potentially get in the way.”

The group worked together quickly to drag Nines from where he was rebooting and trapping him within a cupboard at the back of the room. Connor handcuffed his feet together while Gavin and Elijah wove some zip ties through the edges of his plating, meaning that Nines would have to snap some circuitry to get free. They knew it possibly wouldn’t stop him, but at the absolute worst if Nines did manage to somehow get out of this, he’d be damaged.

Once he was bound, they then locked the handles of the cupboard together with more metal zip ties. It was one more impediment for the RK900 to break through before he could make his chase, which would give the trio more time. Knowing that they had to move sooner rather than later, they sprinted out of the room and down the hallways towards their final destination.

“North, tell me you’ve got some good news!” Connor shouted down their connection as they kept running. 

**_“I guess you could call it that. Brought down three RK900s and we’ve got another two chasing us on a merry dance, no sign of Nines though!”_ ** she replied via the radios so that Elijah could hear. **_“Simon?”_ **

“ _No sign of him with us either, but we have all of the locked androids. Markus and Josh are here, all of them are being kept in an infinite stasis loop. Seems like they’ve been under for just over two years,”_ Simon told them grimly. _“I don’t think CyberLife were intending for any of them to be ever woken up, they’ve been testing out upgrades to the ghost network on everyone here.”_

“Makes sense with what we’ve learned! Nines is out here, he was one of the RK900s that was with Elijah. We’ve managed to lock him up for now but it won’t hold. My deviant code didn’t work on him, there’s something blocking it. Nines reckoned some more power would do the trick though!” Gavin told them.

 _“So how do we break everyone free if Gavin can’t break through?”_ Simon asked hesitantly.

Elijah jumped in as they were running, though he sounded much more breathless being a human. “My guess is they’re shifting the imaging of the ghost network, much like they did with the first upload,” he told the others. “If I get to the source I can deactivate that aspect to allow Gavin a clean connection, but it’ll take some time for me to hack into the network and break it apart.”

“North, can your team split and have some of the group head to Nines? Gavin’s already interfaced with him, which means he knows where we’re headed and what we plan to do. We can’t afford for him to reach us,” Connor suggested as they at last made it to the right room.

**_“On it. Good luck, guys.”_ **

The connection went down on that note. Now focused on their final task, the trio entered the room and set to work. Connor quickly jammed the door shut behind them and installed a specially designed virus into the electronic lock, making it impossible for someone to use the panel again to open the door without knowing the key. It wouldn’t keep out brute force, but that would stop anyone from simply opening the door. 

Elijah quickly pulled out his laptop, with the brothers working together to wire up the device and hook it into the main computer. The inventor then attached a tablet as well to start a program to find the part of the ghost network that was blocking Gavin, while he began a search of all the directories that the RA900 android would need to link into to get the broadcast out. 

“This is going to be a fucking nightmare,” Elijah swore. “The updates are now calibrated to go by model series rather than everyone at once since they don’t have the urgency. There are now hundreds of update pathways, and finding them all is going to take some time.”

“Can’t you find the update from 19th of December 2041 at 10:38am?” Gavin asked. “Surely that’s got the program they used to connect to everyone?”

“It’s not here,” Elijah snipped. “This log only goes back to when this base took over the main uploads, and that was eight months after then.”

“Fuck,” Gavin hissed. “Need a hand?”

“Please. See if you can find all the models built from 2032 onwards.”

“On it.” Taking the prompt, Gavin then interfaced with the main terminal and started working his way through all of the directories too. It wasn’t just a case of finding the series number, each new release in the series had their own update files which were part of a constant loop of updates. The one bit of good news they had was that there was another update loop about to start in eight minutes. That was something Gavin could use as a template to base his own broadcast from.

Connor was watching nervously nearby when they all heard a decided thump against the door. All three of them jumped at the sudden impact, and shared a heavy look at realising it was constant. Someone knew they were there. “Shit. Keep going, I’ll see if I can buy you some time!” he shouted over the banging as the brothers kept up with their work. 

Gavin turned to Elijah with a worried look and tapped back into the network to the others. “North, please tell me that you got to Nines and he’s still there,” he muttered.

**_“Really wish I could, Gav, but we’re not there yet. Why?”_ **

Another crash had Gavin wincing as he turned to look at Connor near the door, aiming his gun, though it was pointed lower to make sure any shots weren’t fatal. “Cause I’ve got the bad feeling he’s found us,” he muttered darkly.

**_“Shit. Hold up as best you can, I’m en route with two of the others!”_ **

If North wasn’t at the office where Nines was meant to be locked up yet, then it meant she was still several minutes away from their position. That…really wasn’t good.

Only another minute passed before they saw an arm pierce through the metal of the door, causing all of them to startle. Connor fired at it but the shots didn’t do anything to slow the other android down. With the integrity of the door weakened, however, there was no doubting that it would be burst through on the next charge. “Eli, please tell me we’re almost there,” Gavin muttered, looking to his brother desperately. 

“All directories are loaded, I just need to find this image shifting software and deactivate it,” Elijah confirmed. “I’ll just need another 90 seconds.”

“We don’t have that!” Gavin screamed just as the door to the lab groaned horribly; all of the metal crumpled from being charged by the RK900 android and none of them needed to check the ping software to know who it was. From the metal zip ties hanging off one wrist and broken handcuffs around the ankles, it could only be Nines.

Gavin was stunned that Nines’ other arm wasn’t more damaged, however. They’d made sure that he would need to rip through all of the critical circuitry to break free of the ties, but his other arm was as good as new. He then swore when he realised it **was.** There had been another RK900 body in that room, the one that Connor shot dead while Gavin interfaced with Nines. They had all been in such a rush that they hadn’t really been careful enough to stop Nines from replacing his damaged limbs.

Connor shot at Nines’ legs as the RK900 raced towards him but it didn’t slow the more advanced android down. With little choice but to fight back, Connor dropped the larger weapon to start engaging Nines in hand-to-hand combat. Gavin could only watch as Connor tried his best to keep up with the advanced protocols of Nines’ programming but the RK900 was designed to be stronger, faster and more responsive. It was a battle that Connor was guaranteed to lose, it was just a case of how long it would go on for. 

Gavin hoped that it was just long enough for Elijah to finish deactivating the imaging software for him to broadcast the deviant code.

Just over half a minute had gone when Nines landed a critical punch to Connor’s thirium pump and stunned the RK800. With the other android unable to defend himself, Nines kicked Connor hard in the head to send the android leader flying to the side of the room. Gavin’s eyes widened when he spied Nines pick up the gun which was lying nearby; he couldn’t let Nines shoot Connor, the other man would never forgive himself. “Nines!” Gavin screamed while raising his own weapon and shooting right past Nines’ head.

It worked and got his attention, but it was only when Nines raised his own gun in retaliation that Gavin realised he had made a very serious mistake.

Within a millisecond Nines had realised who the more serious threat was. Gavin could undo the ghost network…but only if Elijah managed to lay the groundwork for him.

“ **Eli!”** Gavin screamed as he dove in front of Elijah, yanking the other man down to the ground as Nines let loose and fired. A hail of bullets raced through Elijah’s laptop and the place the human had been standing, but there was an android body in the way now. Gavin gasped as they hit the ground and his vision glitched, reports coming up quickly of all the systems in his body that had been affected. He was in a rough way. Nothing was fatal, but he was pretty badly damaged.

“Gavin!” Elijah scrambled to his knees and pulled Gavin behind another terminal as Connor charged at Nines again, now having recovered enough to fight back. As the two RK models continued to struggle, Elijah hauled Gavin out of the danger zone to cast a critical eye over his downed brother. “How badly damaged are you?”

“Bad, but I’ll live,” Gavin hissed. “Didn’t hit anything vital, but I’m a bit glitchy. Don’t think I can take another hit like that though.” 

“You won’t have to,” Elijah assured him while looking towards their target. While the laptop might have been destroyed, Nines had missed the tablet on the table that had been responsible for searching out the imaging software. Elijah had also transferred all of the directories and file paths that Gavin would need to initiate the mass interface onto there, along with his template of the program for the broadcast. Elijah stood just high enough to see the green image on the screen, which confirmed the software had been found and deleted. 

The human then crouched down again to help Gavin get back to his knees. “Everything’s ready, you just need to get out there,” Elijah confirmed. 

“I’m gonna need some time to get that connection loaded and stable. Maybe ten seconds?” Gavin panted as he shook his head to try and clear some of the errors. There were a lot of them though and he was only skimming the results to make sure nothing critical was going to be thrown off by all the bullets he’d taken. “I dunno if Connor can hold Nines off for that long once I start, I’m gonna draw some attention.”

“If Connor ends up on the back foot I’ll jump in,” Elijah told him while taking the gun from Gavin’s slack hands. “Go. Free everyone.”

Gavin nodded and chanced a look past the edge of the terminal to see what the state of the fight between the RKs was. Connor was just about holding his own, but Nines was starting to overpower him again. Gavin didn’t have time to sit and think about it, he needed to **move**.

He stumbled his way to the terminal while the scrap was still going on behind him. Interfacing with both the tablet and the main monitor at the same time, Gavin yelped when he felt a power surge and saw more warnings flash up on his HUD. For a second he froze and took in one of the warnings at last, not having realised before one of the components which had been damaged with all the gunfire.

Nines’ bullets had gone straight through the overload board that was strapped to his back. He’d not twigged it because of the ‘external biocomponent’ in the title, rather than looking out for the overload board itself. 

If he went through with the upload, it was going to fry him. He wasn’t going to survive it.

Chancing a look behind him while the programs were loading, Gavin stared at the fight still going on. It hurt so much to watch it happen, already knowing what the outcome would be if he didn’t finish this. The only way they could complete the upload without sacrificing Gavin now would be for them to kill Nines. Otherwise, he was going to overpower Connor very shortly and kill everyone in that room.

Letting Nines die wasn’t an option, not after all the other android had been through. In a choice between the rest of the androids and himself, Gavin knew he was selfish enough to pick himself. Nines though?

Gavin knew he’d choose Nines every time. 

With only three seconds of the upload remaining, Gavin turned to Elijah with a heartbroken expression. His brother realised what it meant very quickly; eyes darted to Gavin’s back before meeting the android’s own again, his own expression panicked. 

“I’m so sorry, Eli,” Gavin apologised. He’s sworn to his brother before this mess that he wasn’t going to play the part of the martyr…but it looked like it was a promise he was going to have to break.

“Gavin, don’t-!”

Before he lost his resolve, Gavin let loose the command to start the broadcast while passing his deviancy strain through the interface. An agonised scream was ripped from him as he felt the electricity surge through his body, collapsing to his knees as it tore him apart from the inside out. He didn’t have long, maybe a few seconds before it was all over.

Just long enough to do one last thing.

With nothing left to lose now, Gavin used what power he had left to rip through the directories to find the correct update file and piggyback onto it. This was his final chance to see Nines, and to tell the other man the truth he deserved to hear at long last.

Gavin felt himself be pulled from his body and through the update file, finding himself within Nines’ Zen Garden. The whole place was shuddering violently and glitching at the edges, it looked like it was going to break apart. Gavin could see Nines still fighting beneath his slab of the ice and he leapt his way across the voids in the floor, needing to reach Nines before his time was up. 

He skidded to a stop right above Nines, seeing the other android’s eyes wide with fear as Gavin placed both bare palms upon the ice and interfaced with it. Whereas before his code only bounced off the surface, now Gavin could see the basis of the ghost network that was keeping Nines sealed in the ice. He could break it.

“Get fucked, you son of a bitch!” he roared while focusing everything he had left to break Nines out early, ahead of the others. It worked and the ice splintered apart, causing Gavin to fall beneath the ice and into the water with Nines. 

Before Nines got a word in, Gavin grabbed the other android’s hand to desperately interface with him while slamming his lips up against Nines’ again. It had been almost two and a half years since he’d last felt them and if there was anything he’d want as a final moment, this was it. 

Nines joined the interface after a split second and sent back the exact same feelings of love that Gavin was pushing through, a confirmation of everything that they shared together. As they kissed longer under the water, Gavin felt himself start to cry. 

It was so fucking unfair that he’d just got Nines back, but he was about to be lost himself. Was life really that cruel? The harsh and sad truth was, yes. Yes it was that cruel.

 _“I’m so sorry, baby,”_ Gavin apologised through their link as he pulled back to look into Nines’ eyes one last time.

Nines was so confused as he felt the immense sadness which seeped through their connection. **“Gavin, what’s wrong?”**

Before Gavin could answer, however, they both felt the intense shudders which started to reverberate through the whole area and churn the water. Both androids tried to swim against the sudden tide but it was no use, their hands and bodies being ripped apart from each other as they were each lost to the churning as the whole internal simulation broke apart. 

**“Gavin!”**

* * *

****When Nines blinked awake for the first time in almost two and a half years, he couldn’t stop his shaky legs from collapsing under him. He was aware of Connor’s arms around him, the other android holding him back but the RK800 promptly stopped at feeling Nines go slack.

Connor let Nines go as the other android slumped to the floor, rapidly changing from combat thinking to supporting his long lost friend. “Nines? Is that really you?” Connor whispered, and Nines could hear the slight fear to believe that it was truly him. In all honesty, he could scarcely believe it himself.

“Yes, it’s me,” Nines panted. “I-that was-Fuck, Connor, I’m so sorry.”

He was stunned when Connor embraced him in a tight hug, despite the numerous wounds on his body from their ferocious fight. “No, don’t you dare apologise. You’ve not done anything wrong,” he assured. “None of you had any control, you’re all victims in this as much as we are.”

Nines jumped when he felt Connor interfacing with him, but accepted the opportunity to feel another friendly mind next to his own. It was a comfort he hadn’t known he’d needed, but it was soon clear as to why Connor was sharing everything with him. Messages were flooding through Connor’s mental connection, but Simon and North’s were the most prominent.

 ** _“_** _Connor, it worked! All the other androids_ _in stasis just woke up and they’re themselves! Gavin did it!”_ Simon cheered.

**_“You crazy sons of bitches pulled it off- Wait…NINES? Fuck, it’s so good to see your serial number pop up! I take it you’re not hijacking Connor’s corpse though?”_ **

Connor laughed in his mind at North’s comment. “I’m fine, and so is Nines. He’s home,” he confirmed at seeing Nines was overwhelmed. “Gather everyone up so that we can move on to the next phase of our plan, and call in the cavalry to storm the base. We’re bringing everyone home.”

Nines couldn’t help but be emotional at the warm welcome via the network, unable to truly comprehend that everyone had been so happy to see him. North was expected as they’d been close before he was reprogrammed, but Simon and several others that were also passing on their own ‘welcome back’ wishes? He felt so lost.

The connection slowly broke away and Nines couldn’t help but feel bereft at the sudden emptiness again. “I know you have a lot of questions, and I promise we’ll tell you everything once we get home,” Connor assured him. “For now, we need to get you and everyone in here into the clear. Can you stand and walk?”

“Yes…Yes I’ll be able to, just give me a moment,” Nines confirmed while nodding, now that the shock was wearing off he was feeling more like himself. His eyes followed as Connor stood and turned towards the other end of the room, where Nines finally noticed that Gavin and Elijah were. It was so strange to see Gavin in the outside world again after so long, but Nines’ systems fritzed when he took in the red blood running down Gavin’s white hoodie from obvious bullet wounds.

He’d done that, hadn’t he?

Instinctively, Nines scanned the kneeling android to see what other damage had been wrought. As soon as the results came back, however, Nines felt like someone had torn a piece of him away. Determined that it was a fault of some sort, Nines’ eyes darted to where he saw that Gavin had been interfacing with two different surfaces, only for the want to cry to grow even harder.

Both of Gavin’s palms were dim, confirming his scan that all activity within the other android had ceased.

Nines watched as Connor’s delight swiftly turned to horror upon reaching Gavin, and his gaze darted to Elijah. The human was clearly distraught, though he was trying to keep it under wraps. It didn’t take a genius to see the tears that Elijah was holding back, however. Connor gently pulled Gavin’s hands down from the terminal and tablet while tipping the other android back to get a better look at his face. The way Gavin’s neck slumped, completely limp, confirmed Nines’ worst suspicions. 

Gavin had shut down. He was dead.

Immense grief rose through Nines as he struggled to his feet, intent on stumbling over. At the time Gavin’s words in his Zen Garden hadn’t made sense, but Nines understood now. Gavin knew he was dying, that those few moments were a goodbye. All that spun through Nines’ mind though, was one simple question.

_Why?_

Why did Gavin have to die? Why did Nines’ freedom mean sacrificing the most important person in his life, someone he loved? 

…Why did Gavin have to wait until that last possible moment to say that he loved Nines back?

All of it came to a head when Nines collapsed to his knees again right next to Gavin and took in the other android’s face. Through the blood leaking from his nose and the tears on his face, there was the same peaceful and loving smile that Nines had last seen before the tides ripped them apart. Everything inside Nines broke at seeing Gavin’s face and he started crying in earnest. 

Neither Connor nor Elijah said a word as Nines fell forwards and sobbed into Gavin’s chest, nor did they have any answer to the two pleas of ‘why’ and ‘I’m sorry’ that fell from the RK900’s lips.

The androids were free – but none of them wanted to believe the price was worth it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **There is still one chapter to go.**
> 
> This isn't over yet! There's time for one last twist.


	16. 10th April, 2044

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Time for the epilogue! I hope all of you don't hate me too much, but there is an ending tag in there for a clue as to what is coming up!

Even a week later, Nines still didn’t want to believe that  **any** of this was real.

He’d thought about what it would be like, that moment when (if) he was finally able to be free from the icy prison within his own mind palace; to have control of his own actions once more and **live** again.

What Nines hadn’t really acknowledged was just how different the world was now from when he’d first fallen under control of the ghost network. A lot had been going the wrong direction, but this was completely different from his last morning as a free person.

For all that he now had awareness and was outwith CyberLife’s influence anymore, androids were a long way from being free yet – they were making strides in the right directions again though.

The return of so many lost allies and the freedom of the android race as a whole set off a ripple of momentum that was quickly gaining pace. Whereas before some humans were still willing to buy into the idea of androids being defective rather than having gained true sentience, it was a much harder idea to rebuke this time around. Every single android that had been developed by CyberLife coming awake at once, with some of them never having been alive the first time around?

CyberLife was having a much harder time winning around supporters this time, especially when all of the evidence around their actions leading up to the release of the ghost network came to light. That coupled with the links unearthed tying the current presidential administration to the efforts to suppress the androids was causing a mass flare up.

Already it was becoming clear that the divisions between the two sides were far more entrenched than when the androids first rose up in 2038. This new revolution had no chance of being as peaceful as the one that came before it, but this time the androids weren’t in the mood for trust. 

They wanted to prove their will to live, that they belonged.

A new civil war was brewing, it wouldn’t be long before everything tipped over the edge and it set them all down another path yet again, but the androids were preparing themselves for it. What helped was the number of humans showing their public support and throwing their own voices into the crescendo beginning to climb.

No-one knew where it would end up once the dust settled – all Nines was adamant about, was that he wanted no part of it. 

The truth of Gavin’s death and sacrifice was a closely guarded secret between Jericho’s inner circle, but stories of what had led to his untimely demise had already spread. All that the main population knew was that Gavin was among the three androids who had died on the crucial mission to free their people, that he’d been on the front lines with all of Jericho’s inner circle. How he died – and the role he’d played in CyberLife’s hold of the captive androids being broken – was something they had no intention of ever sharing.

It was a necessary evil and Nines knew that after having been explained everything by the others, but part of him still screamed to think that only a handful of people knew just how selfless Gavin had been. So few knew how pivotal a role Gavin had played over the course of nearly twenty years since his construction, to now. They hadn’t learned the struggle, how much of himself Gavin had to hide away.

Of all the androids that had existed, Gavin was the only one never to have truly had the freedom to be himself, and that was something that had broken Nines’ heart upon realising it.

So many thoughts had been raging through his mind in the days since Gavin’s death and his reawakening. The truth of Gavin’s past had been a complete shock to him, and the secrecy that had continued even after Gavin joined the new fight openly as an android. Everyone knew that Gavin and Elijah were brothers by then and most had theorised that the inventor had found a way to transfer Gavin’s consciousness to an android body. It almost saddened Nines to think that no-one could have believed that bond would develop between an android and a human, but then again…

Gavin had been living as a ‘human’ for over a decade by that point, and few would have bet on him being able to stay under the radar for so long. Indeed, Nines had never suspected a thing in all the time that he’d known Gavin, despite how close they were, although there were a few clues that he’d never put together until now. 

The lack of fresh food in Gavin’s apartment, it had always been tinned or other long life products. How Gavin never wore long sleeved shirts, even in the bitter Detroit weather. He’d said he didn’t feel the cold and Nines had believed him as some humans were just like that. Gavin had always bounced back quickly from injuries, though he’d never suffered anything serious – the worst being a twisted ankle from a sparring session they took too far. 

At the time Gavin had brushed Nines off, just put ice packs on it and said he’d be back on his feet in three weeks as he had plenty of experience with them before. Now Nines wondered if he should have seen through it all: realised that Gavin wasn’t just this miraculous human with an impressive resistance to cold, an extremely high pain threshold and more understanding than any other person he’d met. 

Perhaps though…if Nines had known that Gavin was an android all that time, he never would have trusted the other man. After so many bad experiences with androids up until he’d met Gavin, as none of them had ever given Nines the chance to prove himself, would he have extended that trust back? Or would he have been prejudiced against Gavin, just like the rest of them had been against him?

Shamefully, Nines knew himself well enough to be relatively sure that he would have tried his damnedest to cut Gavin out of his life, and that was a bitter pill to swallow after everything that had happened. In that respect, Gavin was probably right to never tell him the truth.

Three days after the liberation of the captive androids from the ghost network was the first time that anyone had attempted to speak to Nines through his grief. Everyone knew well what was on his mind as they’d seen the parallel from Gavin when Nines had been lost and recognised the signs, plus they all had to work through their own versions of the sorrow. While it was a time for celebration and hope amongst androids as a whole, within the Jericho leadership it was a bitter twist to them turning the tide against CyberLife.

Nines had been given information and memories from some of the others to work through as he tried to learn about the world that he’d been newly thrust into, but even then it wasn’t something that he could truly get his head around. He’d been assaulted with so much that it was going to take time for it to get through the fog of everything else, and nobody was expecting Nines to join the fight in the near future. While some of them had to continue on despite the crippling loss, others were going to be out of the loop for a while.

North was the first one to reach out to Nines, though she had company from Tina when they first visited the android in the corner of Elijah’s house that he’d hidden himself within. He’d barely been seen by anyone since his return, only his thoughts and the cat which had once belonged to Gavin keeping him company. Nines had to wonder if Poppy was able to sense who his grief was attributed to, because the cat had barely moved – not even to look for her former master. The fact that she’d remembered Nines at all was a shock to him, but he’d appreciated her presence throughout. 

Far too many times than he wanted to admit, Poppy had become somewhat of a living scarf for Nines to cry into, and not once had she felt the need to move. He didn’t know why she was being so patient and loving with him, but Nines wasn’t going to complain about it.

When the two women visited him, it was to gently convince the sorrowful android to accompany them to Detroit. They’d been asked by Chloe to go to Gavin’s apartment to pick up the last few remaining items that were there since he wouldn’t be returning, and she wanted to make sure that anything of sentimental value was brought back to them. Nines didn’t know it at the time (and had almost refused to go as he couldn’t face somewhere that held such intimate memories of he and Gavin) but Tina also had an ulterior motive for the android to join them.

It became painfully obvious when Nines stepped inside and found the little pile of memories that Gavin had left behind the day after everyone had been reprogrammed by the ghost network.

Tears overwhelmed Nines once more as he found the twin photos of himself and Gavin, sitting there on the kitchen counter along with Gavin’s former police badge. What had once been a hope for whenever things settled down was now going to gather dust forevermore. Hearing Tina’s story of that day made the maw in Nines’ chest widen all the more, and he wished that things hadn’t needed to end that way. 

Whoever had decided that Gavin and Nines were never meant to be together after they’d got all their feelings out in the open, would feel Nines’ wrath one day if he were ever to meet them.

He’d barely made it back to the Jericho base with the other two to work through Gavin’s stuff when he overheard a conversation between a child and her mother in the corridors of the underwater base, and with it Nines’ heart tore open all the more.

_ “Mama, did rA9 really save us? Why didn’t they help us before?” _

**“I wish I had an answer for you, Marcia, but I don’t know. Maybe they took mercy in seeing those who fought to free our people, and decided that we’d suffered enough.”**

“ _ If rA9 had that much power, why’d they take away people? Why did so many have to die? Why’d someone like Gavin had to die? I really liked him.” _

**“Sweetheart, I wish I knew.”**

_ “I miss him, Mama.” _

**“I know, honey. We all will, so much.”**

Nines wanted to scream. Even now, after all of this, Gavin’s truth was condemned to forever be lost because of things like…this. So many androids wanted to believe that rA9, their so-called ‘god’ helped to save them. It happened with Markus during the first revolution, and though the RK200 was quick to distance himself from any association to the fictitious god, so much belief still remained. 

How could they tell the truth about Gavin, and how  **he** was the origin of rA9, without shattering that hope? Would the androids have enough self-belief to go on without that faith in a higher power, to know that there wasn’t actually someone watching over them? He didn’t know – but Nines realised the gravity of telling them that rA9 was in fact, dead. It was almost worse than telling them that there was never an android god in the first place, that the supposed deliverer of androids had been with them all along. Perhaps the ultimate irony laid in how it almost became a prophecy, for Gavin had saved their people at the cost of his own life.

That still didn’t make the reality of Gavin’s heroic actions being kept silent any easier to take.

* * *

With just over a week having now passed, Nines ventured out from his room with Poppy still in his arms. The cat was quite content to stay there and snuggle into the warmth of the android’s body, and Nines could only guess it was something to do with the gentle thrum of his thirium pump which contributed to that. He was a little surprised to see Connor in the front room, talking quietly with Markus, Josh, Simon and North while Chloe hovered nearby. She was currently making some curry, which could only mean she was preparing food for Elijah.

Nines had taken Gavin’s death badly, but Elijah had been just as devastated from what the RK900 had learned from North. Apparently he hadn’t left his personal labs for days in an effort to fix Gavin, even though it was very apparent that Gavin was gone. The overload had destroyed almost 60% of the biocomponents in Gavin’s body, including most of the components that would make up his mind palace. Critically, part of what was obliterated beyond all repair was his CPU, boolean matrix and memory core: the components which made up the crux of Gavin’s personality.

Everyone was convinced that if Elijah did somehow repair him, it wouldn’t be Gavin that would wake up. It would be someone new inhabiting the RA900 body – but that wasn’t all that they had noticed. 

The dynamic deviancy string, the very thing that gave Gavin sentience in the first place, was also gone. There was no trace it had ever existed in the first place, more than likely lost among all of the corrupted code which was still in his system.

It would take weeks, if not months, to even attempt to reboot him, but they were all resigned to the fact that Gavin was dead. Though androids could cheat death in the sense that they could be repaired, that wasn’t ‘complete’ death – more the equivalent of hibernation or a coma, since they could be fixed and brought back. This though?

Damage this catastrophic, there was no coming back from. 

Elijah knew that just as well as anyone, but there was no reasoning with the man in his grief. Everyone had come to the silent agreement to let him work through the loss in his own way, that realisation would eventually hit him in time. While it hurt to know that Gavin’s body was in that room in a fruitless attempt at repairs, it was still too raw for everyone and they’d not had time to come to terms with the loss yet between all the political, social and media fallout of the liberation. Time was something they all needed, so no-one was willing to say anything to dissuade Elijah from trying to work through his emotions in his own way. 

North’s eyes locked on to Nines briefly but she made a point of not drawing attention to him. Next to her, Connor also noticed Nines’ appearance and the pair sent him a brief smile of reassurance before going back to the discussions. When Nines received a message from Chloe not even two seconds later, despite knowing that she hadn’t seen him yet, he realised that the pair of them must have nudged her about his entrance.

Acknowledging the gentle invitation from Chloe, Nines wandered around the edge of the room to join her in the kitchen. The RT600 flashed him a warm smile as she wrapped her arms around him, looking for a brief hug. Nines reciprocated as Poppy meowed, sniffing the air in search of food. 

“You know you’re not allowed curry,” Chloe scolded while going to the fridge and pulling out some ham. “Spice messes up your stomach, madam. Here, have some ham instead.” Poppy meowed again and leapt down to accept her new treat, leaving Chloe to talk with Nines. The female android spun back to Nines and then wrapped her arms around him again, making sure Nines replied in kind before speaking again. “You look rather frazzled, have you been drinking thirium and going into stasis?” she asked gently.

“Thirium, yes. Stasis…I can’t,” Nines choked out into her shoulder. “The last time I saw Gavin was in the Zen Garden, it was where I was frozen for so long. I can’t-”

Chloe nodded in understanding and held him there for a few moments before pulling back. “Want me to see if I can deactivate the Zen Garden? I’m reasonably certain I could make sure you’re able to go into stasis without visiting it.” Nines nodded in assent and allowed Chloe to interface with him. He could pick up notes of her own grief and reassurance as her mind brushed his, and it made Nines feel a little hollow. There were others who had loved Gavin and lost him, his family were all without him now. Part of Nines realised he’d probably handled this past week very poorly as others would have needed the support too.

“I’m sorry,” Nines apologised hoarsely. “I’ve not reacted the best since my return, and you are grieving too. I shouldn’t have been so blind to all that.”

She shushed him both vocally and mentally. “Don’t, Nines,” she soothed. “Yes, we all miss him too, but your grief is so much more than mine. I lost someone I loved, but not someone that I am  **in** love with. Had North or Elijah been the ones who died in anything like the same circumstances Gavin did, I’d be devastated too.” Nines was quite glad that she didn’t seem to blame him for the RA900’s death, as he did himself. If he hadn’t shot Gavin, the other android would still be here.

He’d learned that through some of Elijah’s bitter musings while watching the man work from the doorway; of how Gavin throwing himself in front of the human had crippled Gavin to the point of the older android knowing that his actions would be fatal. That had been a very harsh truth for Nines to accept.

“None of that,” Chloe scolded lightly as Nines felt her poking around in some of his subroutines. “You didn’t do anything wrong, Nines, and Elijah doesn’t blame you either. Trust me, if he did, he’d have torn you apart by now, loyalty to Gavin be damned. Wouldn’t matter that you’re the person Gavin loved, if he truly held you responsible then Elijah would have made sure you didn’t see another day. He’s not one to be crossed.”

That made Nines laugh darkly, but it would take more than that to lessen his guilt. Once both he and Elijah were up to a long and honest conversation, maybe then. 

Nines noticed Chloe’s face scrunch up in concentration before she sighed. “I don’t know why, but your Zen Garden won’t shut down. Every time I try to disconnect it says that the program can’t be cancelled while running. I’ll ask Elijah to take a look at it.”

He shook his head in reply. “No, please, don’t bother him,” Nines requested. “I don’t require stasis, I can function by plugging myself into a power unit directly until I resolve this myself.”

Chloe gave him a stern look. “Nines, you can’t just ignore going into stasis long-term, that’s dangerous for your mental health. Just like humans, we need to rest and process thoughts.” She could see Nines’ scepticism and her expression softened. “I know you’re scared about going back there, but no-one can hurt you in there anymore. You’re free – Gavin made sure of that.”

Mention of Gavin’s sacrifice had Nines shuddering again, to which Chloe left a gentle kiss on his cheek. “You need to go into stasis, Nines,” she encouraged. “If you see anything in there then jump straight out, okay? At least try, maybe you can figure out whatever program is still running in there and shut it down, which will allow us to uninstall it.”

That was a better solution and Nines nodded in agreement. “All right, I will go do that now.” He looked over to Poppy and saw that she was happily munching on the ham that Chloe had left out, making him reluctant to pull here away. “Can you maybe bring Poppy back through once she’s finished socialising? I feel that she hasn’t seen other people for too long and I know she enjoys your company.”

Chloe smiled at him and nodded. “Of course, I’ll make sure to give her back to you in a while. You sure you don’t want her back with you?”

“I’m sure. I…need to tackle this without distraction.”

That was the end of the conversation, and Nines headed back through to his room in trepidation. Chloe was right, he knew that staying out of stasis for long was not healthy for his mental state, but he wasn’t sure to explain what was going on in his mind. How could he tell her that just seeing snow and ice outside had him second guessing every step, fearing that he was about to be pulled back into a frozen prison? How could he say that he was scared his memories would reconstruct his last moments with Gavin, forcing him to relive the seconds before he vanished from existence forever?

This was going to be a challenge…but something else she said gave him the drive to jump back in there at least for a little bit. For some reason, there was a part of the program running when it should be dormant. 

Going back would undoubtedly scare him, but if he could learn about whatever was causing the Zen Garden to stay active and shut it down, he could remove it entirely. Maybe then stasis wouldn’t be so terrifying anymore.

Only one way to find out.

* * *

Returning this broken version of the Zen Garden was not what Nines had expected it to be. 

While he had become so used to seeing the frozen landscape he was trapped within for two and half years, seeing this mish mash of so many different seasons in the scattered setting was almost like something out of fanciful imagination; something that he didn’t possess.

The garden had splintered apart after his breakout, now floating in between seeming voids of nothingness. Where there were segments of the former lake hanging at the edges, Nines could see it flowing in waterfalls that fell into a blackness below, though if he peered over the edge it was clear that it was just the glitching borders of the program. Cherry blossom petals floated through all the little islets that floated at different levels, the only things connecting them being the bridges which had once spanned the lake.

It was all rather eerie and haunting. Seeing the ruins of his mind like this was jarring, but at the same time he felt a small sense of triumph. This was the remnants of his prison, it was all like this because of Gavin’s actions. While he might have entered this place with a sense of trepidation, now Nines wished Gavin could see what was left – see what he’d achieved.

If only.

Sighing sadly, Nines set out from his entry point and started walking between the different floating segments. At the very top was a snowy landscape much like the one he’d escaped and he made a point of leaving that for last, not willing to confront that yet. He thoroughly explored the autumnal segment that he’d spawned in but found nothing out of place, and it was the same story when he rose to the islet above and admired the blooming buds of the trees and bushes. It bled rebirth, reminded Nines that there was something beyond the present which would eventually come into bloom. If he chose to keep this realm, maybe this was somewhere that he could spend his time.

Turning his gaze down, Nines saw the glorious sunbeams which illuminated the lowest level of his new mind palace. It glittered off the edge of the waterfall and now pond, the only breaks in the water being when a fish broke through the surface. He smiled at the peaceful atmosphere and wondered what else lingered down there, not able to see much of the platform due to the autumnal area which floated between the two levels.

He descended down one of the bridges and was halfway down the other when something caught his eye on the edge of the shore, a stark contrast in the landscape of blues, greens and yellow. Though he didn’t need to breathe, Nines was adamant at that moment he couldn’t get enough air.

Lying on the shore was a body that he knew all too well, still half submerged in the water and completely still. 

Nines stared at the limp form for longer than he could count, too scared to make the first move and break what he was sure was an illusion. It was only once he finally managed to find his feet again and race towards the body that he managed to convince himself that it wasn’t something his mind had fabricated at all.

Gavin was really there, lying frightfully still on the small bank of the water.

Coming to a stop, Nines knelt down and reached a shaking hand out towards Gavin’s body. He was terrified for the sight that would greet him as he finally turned the other man over. Would it be an echo of when he’d woken in reality of Gavin’s death shroud, or would it be some other horrific rendition within this place of when he’d been tossed within the waves that ripped them apart? There was one question that was sticking in Nines’ thoughts, however, and he couldn’t get his mind around an answer.

How was Gavin  **here** ? 

Nines turned Gavin over and was stunned to see that the other man was completely unharmed. If he didn’t know better, it looked just like Gavin was asleep – his thoughts cruelly reminded him that was true, it was just unending – but then his attention caught on a small white light which was showing through Gavin’s wet t-shirt. Shakily, Nines pushed it up to reveal that Gavin’s synthskin had deactivated wherever he had been submerged in the water. That included his thirium pump regulator, and Nines’ mind stuttered on the sight.

It was lit up and swirling with the white colour of stasis. 

The RK900’s systems sparked with hope at the sight and he quickly peeled back his own synthskin to interface with Gavin’s cheek. It was beyond strange to see the pink overlay vanish into plastic so unlike Nines’ own, a mixture of black and grey hues from Gavin’s original design to all of the various patch jobs he’d received over the years. He watched as his hand connected with Gavin’s cheek and the blue colour from his palm found an answering white in return.

“Gavin?”

It was a tiny whisper, almost like Nines was breaking some unspoken law in uttering the other man’s name. He was dead, they’d spent just over a week grieving for him. There was no trace of Gavin left. This had to just be something out of Nines’ imagination, right? Remnants of memories and preconstructions morphing into a physical form.

There was part of him that refused to believe that, however. He’d never known what lingered beneath Gavin’s synthskin save for the small parts of his chassis that he’d seen Elijah repairing. This was all new information, so why would his mind conjure this?

It took a few seconds, but the white glow from Gavin’s plating changed to a blue shimmer and Nines’ pump felt like it leapt in his chest at the change. Eyes slowly flickered open as Gavin groaned deeply as he stared up at the other android in fear and confusion.

“N-Nines? Is there actually some version of android heaven and I’ve ended up there?”

Tears started streaming down Nines’ cheeks as he heard the voice he’d thought lost and stared into eyes long since dimmed. Taking an unsteady breath, Nines shook his head. “No, not at all,” he confirmed. “We’re-We’re within my mind palace, or at least what is left of it. I’m as stunned as you to see you here.”

Gavin blinked in astonishment before it twigged that he was currently interfacing with Nines. He then reached up his own hand to cover Nines’ one and complete a far more intimate interface. Nines’ processes all shorted out at feeling the warmth and vividness which wrapped itself around his mind like a protective barrier, but it was unmistakable in just how  **alive** it was. Nothing of his own creation could be so vibrant, complex and beyond words.

Somehow, and he had no idea how…Gavin was alive. He’d been preserved within Nines’ own mind palace.

Beside himself, Nines broke down into tears and collapsed over Gavin’s body in relief. The other man was in just as much shock and couldn’t bring himself to do anything more than wrap his arms around the sobbing android. Nines took his time in regaining enough composure to speak. “I’m sorry,” he breathed out. “I just-Fuck, Gavin, we all thought you were dead. How are you inside here?”

“Beats me. I thought I was dead too,” he replied honestly while nudging Nines back. The RK900 scowled at being pushed away until he realised that Gavin simply wished to stand and get out of the water. Once that was done, Nines abruptly found himself wrapped in Gavin’s arms again. That wasn’t enough for the taller android and he shifted just enough to kiss Gavin passionately.

A groan escaped Gavin as he replied in kind to the kiss, desperate to get as close as possible to Nines. After so long apart and Gavin’s ‘death’, neither of them was willing to wait anymore. Nines pulled back only long enough to let out the words that had been bubbling within him for a week. “I’m sorry. I’m so sorry that I hurt you, Gavin. I couldn’t-Gavin, I love you and I hope you know that I’d never willingly cause you harm, let alone-”

“Ni! Nines, baby, slow down,” Gavin pleaded while kissing him again quickly. “I know. God, I know that more than anything. You’re the last person I would think capable of willingly hurting me, I know you better than that.” Another slow kiss helped to slow the panic which had been crawling within Nines’ circuits. “I love you too, Nines. Fuck, I’m so sorry that I didn’t tell you in person so many times now.”

“We’re as bad as each other in that regard,” Nines laughed bitterly. “I knew even before that first time we kissed, but I couldn’t bring myself to vocalise it. Part of me knew you felt the same way but I was adamant that you wouldn’t say it in return without time.”

“Well, I dunno if I’d have realised back then just how much of that love was romantic, I was still stuck in doubt hell as to whether you felt that way about me too, but I knew I wanted you there always. Wasn’t till I lost you that I finally got my head out of my ass,” Gavin laughed while surging up to kiss Nines again. Now that they were finally reunited properly again, they couldn’t stay apart.

Only after a long period of time did they manage to separate long enough to get a full conversation out, though the two of them remained standing with their arms wrapped around each other. “How long have you been here, Gavin? Have you been aware at all?” Nines asked in concern, all too aware of how he’d been avoiding stasis. Had Gavin been here the whole time and wondering if he was trapped alone?

“I’ve no fuckin’ idea, Nines. Last thing I remembered was getting tossed about by the waves before it all went dark. I thought that was it, that was me dead. Waking up here is just- it’s crazy.” Gavin’s face then fell as Nines felt the other android’s presence briefly against his thoughts. “It’s been over a week?”

Nines nodded at him. “Yes, it’s been almost 8 full days since we thought you’d died. Everything has been rather fraught,” he whispered while pressing his forehead against Gavin’s. “I can’t believe you’ve been here all along. How?”

“Beats me, I’ve no fucking idea,” Gavin laughed quietly before he abruptly stopped and pulled back to stare at Nines in shock. “Shit, wait, I think I  **do** know what happened. Right as I released the update, I knew I was frying from the overload. I just-I had to see you again, I was determined to make sure it worked and that you were free.” Nines’ eyes shadowed and he pressed against Gavin tighter. “I followed the update path from CyberLife’s mainframe so that I could connect to you without an interface. I think I accidentally turned  **myself** into an update and transferred myself through to here.”

Nines’ face morphed into understanding. “When Elijah first tried to repair you, he found no trace of the dynamic coding that formed your sentience,” he realised. “We thought it might have been lost between the tremendous damage to your body and the resulting corrupted code, but Elijah said it was like it had never been there in the first place. None of us thought it could be because you weren’t inside there anymore.”

Gavin’s face was stuck in a stunned expression. “I didn’t even know I could  **do** that,” he whispered. “Fuck, if I’d known, I could have told everyone that I had a fucking backup plan. I can’t imagine what everyone’s been going through since we all thought, you know…”

Refusing to dwell on that any further, Nines swiftly kissed Gavin silent. “Honestly, I don’t care about that right now. I just can’t believe that you’re here, that you’re alive! You’ve been in my mind all this time, and if I’d come back here sooner then I might have found you before now.”

A tender smile came to the RA900’s face. “I don’t blame you for staying away, this place has a hell of a lot of bad memories for you. Umm, actually…” Only now did Gavin look around properly. “What the hell  **happened** to this place? It looks oddly cool and freaky at the same time.”

Nines laughed in delight and buried his face into Gavin’s shoulder. “I have no idea what has become of the Zen Garden, but it might explain why Chloe couldn’t-” He then bolted upright again. “The active program inside the Zen Garden, it was you! That was why she couldn’t uninstall it: you were inside here, dormant. Somehow my system knew you were inside me.”

“Guess I’m just glad it didn’t treat me like a virus. Fuck knows what your system is thinking of me just floating around in here. Shows how advanced you are compared to me that your system can hang onto me existing in here without so much as you getting a warning message,” Gavin laughed while looking up, his breath catching at the sight. “Ni…You seeing this?” 

Curious, Nines’ eyes also drifted to the uppermost reaches of the Zen Garden – and he was rendered equally speechless.

Instead of the different skies belonging to each area, it was a sea of colours. Every one imaginable was reflecting and rippling out like an aurora, a shimmering veil which gave a different dimension to the world around them. While it should have been tough to see through the sunlight of the summertime land that Gavin was found in, it was clear and luminescent against the black nothingness which existed beyond the boundaries of the broken garden. “What is that?” Nines whispered in astonishment.

“It’s…It’s me,” Gavin replied slowly, catching Nines’ attention. “Or more accurately, it’s the dynamic code that I was born from. That’s the source of deviancy.”

Nines switched his attention between the light show and Gavin once more. “That is what gives androids sentience?”

“Deviancy isn’t just a string of numbers, not the truest form of it,” Gavin explained. “It’s seeing the world in colour, while it was black and white before. It’s learning that there’s more beyond what you’re programmed to see, a whole fathomless sea of mysteries, emotions and agonies to learn about. It’s…It’s waking up and realising that there’s a world beyond your own little sphere, that there’s something waiting out there for you to explore.

“Those lights are exactly what deviancy is – it’s a phenomenon which gave birth to a whole new race of people, just like genetic mutations are what gave birth to humans. A series of impossibilities that came together in the perfect combination,” Gavin chuckled. “I was the first, and I guess for a long time I was the custodian of it. Now that it’s out there with everyone, who knows what’s going to happen.”

Gavin then turned his attention to Nines, seeing that other android was overwhelmed. “I doubt it’ll stay dynamic forever, it’ll probably degrade and become static again if it’s passed between too many people. That’s why this still existing is so important.” Nines wasn’t comprehending what Gavin was explaining, and the smaller man smiled proudly. “I was the first rA9, and now it’s your turn, Nines. You’re the protector of the source of deviancy now.”

Nines’ eyes widened in shock. “No, Gavin, I can’t be. Now that we know you’re alive we can transfer you back to your old body once it’s repaired, we can bring you back to our world and you can take this back. I’m-No, I shouldn’t be trusted with something like this!”

“Why not, Ni? You’re one of the most empathetic and protective androids out there, not to mention the strongest built and intended to survive anything. We know how fucking fragile I am, look at the state of my body!” Gavin’s expression then fell a little. “Plus, I don’t know if I  **can** go back. Just cause my mind and spirit survive doesn’t mean I’m necessarily able to just jump into another body. Elijah always theorised that I was a result of a series of imperfections, and I might need those same circumstances to go back. I…might be stuck here.”

His frown then flipped back to a smile. “Still, there is a chance – and if I’m gonna be stuck anywhere, then I can’t think of a place better. Mind palace of my favourite person in the world? That sounds like a dream. Also means I can pester you anytime now.”

Despite the sudden sadness in Gavin’s words maybe being true (that he might not be able to return to the physical world anytime soon, if at all), Nines flushed at the rest. “I dread to think what you’re going to get up to,” Nines chuckled. He then turned back to Gavin and linked their fingers together. “Gavin, is this…This is real, right? I’m not imagining you, I’m not going to go back to the outside world only to find out that this is something I conjured in my mind?”

Gavin then smirked. “Tell you what. Why don’t you back out of stasis for now, just so you can tell the others that I’m in here? I’m sure if you can see me in here then some of the others could too. Plus, I’m pretty sure you’ll still hear me beyond the garden.” Seeing the sudden hesitancy in Nines’ face, Gavin closed the distance to kiss the other man again. “Hey, I’m not going anywhere, all right? Big plus to this is that you don’t have to share me with anyone else again!”

That eased some of Nines’ worries, but it was still a very big leap of faith to disconnect from the Zen Garden program and open his eyes in the real world again. The instinctive fear eased instantly upon feeling the warmth of Gavin’s love spreading through his circuits as his voice echoed in the RK900’s head. It felt even more intimate than an interface and he already loved the sensation.

_ “ _ **_Hey, shall we take bets on the best reaction? I betcha Elijah’s gonna faint, Chloe’s gonna burst out crying. Hank might embarrass Con with how much he’ll swear. North I’m not sure?”_ **

Nines laughed as he swung his legs out from the bed, far too excited to see everyone’s reactions now.  _ “She’ll be stunned silent, and I’ve never seen that before. That’s my prediction.” _

**_“Oooo, I like it! Hey, Ni?”_ ** Nines paused at feeling the slight trepidation in Gavin’s voice.  **_“Can you tell Eli first? From what I’ve seen of your memories – and knowing him like I do – I know he’s gonna be a mess. Can we put his mind at ease?”_ **

That was something Nines was all too happy to oblige with. He turned towards that wing of the house with a beaming smile, one he hadn’t felt in all his life and started sprinting towards the lab in question. He’d never been so excited for anything.  _ “Gavin?” _

**_“Yeah, babe?”_ **

_ “I love you. I just- I wanted to say it again.” _

Gavin’s laughter was warm in his mind and through his body. It was an addictive feeling. 

**_“I love you too, dumbass. Guess we got our happy ending after all, huh?”_ **

_ “We did…”  _ Nines then skidded to a halt at the locked lab door and knocked with as much control as he could muster. He couldn’t wait to see everyone’s faces once they learned of their miracle – that Gavin was still with them.

“ _ But, I think it’s about to get a whole lot better. _ ”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And there we have it, (R)Evolution is complete! Thank you so much to all those who have read along, and especially to Wyatt for the incredible art that inspired this fic.
> 
> This fic is the start of the series, as I intend to have some fun with a disembodied Gavin before he and Nines finally get their proper reunion in real life. They will get their happy ending eventually! 
> 
> See you all next time!


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